Player: OL Mason McCormick
Stock Value: Up
Reasoning: Indications are the Steelers will first turn to Mason McCormick to replace James Daniels, who suffered a season-ending injury. A rookie fourth-round pick, he made his first career start at left guard last week, now moving to right guard. They initially started Spencer Anderson over him, but it appears, no matter which side, the rookie is now ahead.
The Steelers did not rush Mason McCormick onto the field, a rookie fourth-round pick. Rather than throw him into the fire to fill in for Isaac Seumalo, they started Spencer Anderson. After two weeks, they began rotating him in, and then starting him.
Now it appears the Steelers are likely to plug him into the starting lineup. RG James Daniels suffered a season-ending injury, and signs point to Mason McCormick being the next man up. The Steelers may still rotate Anderson in, as they planned to do last week, but we will see. The preference is always to have just one lineman handle the job, for obvious reasons.
A fourth-round pick out of South Dakota State, McCormick has a lot of college snaps under his belt. But nearly all of them came at left guard. Despite that, he is not worried about playing on the right side, should that be the case. Typically, most linemen find switching sides much easier in the interior than at tackle.
The Steelers have already started three rookie offensive linemen this season, including first-round T Troy Fautanu. Fautanu is on the Reserve/Injured List, however, after playing just one game. Second-round C Zach Frazier has been arguably their best lineman all season, and McCormick will try to settle in next to him.
The two rookies featured on one of the Steelers’ worst plays of the season last week, though. It’s difficult to assign blame without knowing the full context, but McCormick tapped Frazier to snap the ball, which QB Justin Fields wasn’t prepared for. As Frazier was snapping, McCormick went to tap Frazier a second time. That’s just a reminder about the importance of communication, especially when dealing with rookies.
As the season progresses, Steelers players’ stocks rise and fall. The nature of the evaluation differs with the time of year, with in-season considerations being more often short-term. Considerations in the offseason often have broader implications, particularly when players lose their jobs, or the team signs someone. This time of year is full of transactions, whether minor or major.
A bad game, a new contract, an injury, a promotion—any number of things affect a player’s value. Think of it as a stock on the market, based on speculation. You’ll feel better about a player after a good game, or worse after a bad one. Some stock updates are minor, while others are likely to be quite drastic, so bear in mind the degree. I’ll do my best to explain the nature of that in the reasoning section of each column.
