Over the past few years, the Pittsburgh Steelers’ offense has mostly been a disaster. Much of that has been because of their quarterback play. However, their offensive line has been a huge issue, too. Thankfully, they’ve taken strides to improve that unit. The Steelers have added several young, talented linemen, including Zach Frazier, Troy Fautanu, and Mason McCormick. However, Kyle Long still thinks they have one of the weakest offensive lines in the NFL.
“D tier, danger close,” Long said Wednesday on his Pushing the Pile podcast. “We’re going to start with the Pittsburgh Steelers. The identity of the Steelers right now, in my opinion, is the fact that they’ve got a center by the name of Zach Frazier, who is a real ass kicker. He’s young and he’s somebody that you can build around with this unit. They had James Daniels, he was banged up, he’s elsewhere now.
“Dan Moore Jr. led the NFL in pressure rate last year. Luckily, they don’t have to pay him because somebody else paid him $80 million. But this group with Isaac Seumalo, who I really like, and I’ve liked him since he was in Philadelphia, is a good player. Broderick Jones is a guy who needs to continue to come along. I like Troy Fautanu. We need this group to stay healthy. The depth will prove to be an issue with pretty much every single one of these groups.”
Long seems to like a lot of the Steelers’ starting offensive linemen, but the depth is concerning for him. That’s understandable. Pittsburgh dealt with a ton of injuries to that room last year. Players like Daniels and Fautanu were lost for most of the season.
Injuries happen, so it’s likely that some of the Steelers’ starting unit will miss time in 2025. However, their depth there is weak. Spencer Anderson filled in admirably at guard last year, and backup center Ryan McCollum has been with the Steelers since 2022. There’s some familiarity with those players, but beyond them, Pittsburgh has a lot of question marks.
At the moment, the Steelers’ top backups at offensive tackle figure to be Dylan Cook and Calvin Anderson. Cook has been with the Steelers since 2023, but his NFL experience is extremely limited. Anderson has been around a little longer, entering the league in 2019 and bouncing between a few teams, but his quality of play hasn’t been great.
Some of the Steelers’ starters have issues as well. McCormick played well last season as a rookie, but he’s still got a lot of room to grow. Fautanu saw very limited action due to injury, so it’s unclear how capable he actually is.
However, Jones might bring the most concern. As a rookie in 2023, he showed flashes, but in 2024, he dealt with several issues. He even got benched early in the year, although Fautanu’s season-ending knee injury pushed him back into a starting role. Part of that is likely due to the Steelers not letting him settle into one position. This season, it looks like that should be less of an issue, so maybe Jones can find his footing.
The Steelers’ offensive line is relatively unproven, so it makes sense that Long has concerns about the unit. However, it has the potential to be better than Long thinks it is. With so many young pieces, if they stay healthy and manage to jell, they could be a formidable unit. There might be a lot of uncertainty surrounding them now, but by the end of this season, they could change the narrative around the Steelers’ offensive line.
