Pittsburgh Steelers center Zach Frazier has won the team’s Joe Greene Great Performance Award, given to the team’s best rookie.
Frazier was an easy choice for the honor. A second-round pick out of West Virginia, he started the season at the pivot and spent most of the season there save for missing two games with an ankle sprain.
Beginning training camp as the backup, the door swung open on the final day of camp when veteran Nate Herbig suffered a season-ending labrum tear. Frazier assumed the starting job and never looked back. Despite not being the biggest or most athletic lineman, his combination of strength, balance, technique, and physicality have served him and the Steelers’ offense well.
Per Pro Football Focus, Frazier is the NFL’s No. 5 overall center and the fifth highest-graded run blocker. Humble and hard-working, he’s been as advertised since being drafted and lauded by teammates and coaches. Offensive coordinator Arthur Smith praised his work ethic and preparation and Frazier is wise beyond his years, a player barely thought of as a rookie.
Badly needing a center heading into the 2024 NFL Draft, the Steelers instead went tackle in the first round and landed Washington’s Troy Fautanu. A dislocated kneecap cost him most of his first season. Frazier fell to them in the second round, the last of the top-tier centers on the board, and Pittsburgh ran the card up to take him. Though just one year in, he has the makings of a long-term starter and heir to Maurkice Pouncey’s spot.
Frazier is the Steelers’ first offensive lineman to win the award since OT Mike Adams in 2012 and first center since Pouncey in 2010. Those two are the only centers to ever do it.
Last year’s winner was CB Joey Porter Jr. Frazier will look to break free from a list of winners who struggled to further their career following their rookie seasons. Examples include QB Kenny Pickett in 2022, WR Chase Claypool in 2020, LB Devin Bush in 2019, and S Sean Davis in 2016. Based on Frazier’s play so far, there’s little worry for that type of regression.
Pittsburgh has handed out the award since 1984. WR/PR Louis Lipps was the team’s first winner.
