It has become a recurring theme in Pittsburgh for offensive linemen to be drafted and immediately switch positions. It’s also become a running joke. Broderick Jones flipped from left to right tackle (and now back at left). Troy Fautanu is playing right tackle for the first time since high school. Kendrick Green pivoted from guard to center while Kevin Dotson flipped from right to left guard. Even if it was out of need more than want, Mason McCormick did the same. Exclusively a left guard at South Dakota State, he spent most of his rookie season in Pittsburgh at right guard.
Asked about the difficulty of making the switch Wednesday after an OTA practice, McCormick paid it little mind.
“Guard’s definitely different than tackle,” he told reporters via the Pittsburgh DSEN YouTube channel. “Our stagger is a lot different. It’s much more narrow.”
A lineman’s “stagger” is how their feet align next to each other. Tackles typically play in a wider stance with a more pronounced stagger to be able to fire off the line and cover ground vertically and horizontally and defend the NFL’s fiercest edge rushers.
Filling in for James Daniels after he suffered a season-ending Achilles injury in Week 4, McCormick held his own as a rookie. His play wasn’t perfect, and there’s room for improvement. His pad level as a run blocker needs to improve, and he can work on his hand placement and punch in pass protection. But for all that was working against him, a small-school rookie thrust into action at a position he hadn’t played before, McCormick enters this year as a clear-cut starter.
“There’s a little bit of a transition,” he said. “But I’ve always known that I want to be as versatile as I can be.”
That process began in college and leading up to the draft. A week before he was picked, the Steelers privately worked out McCormick at center. After drafting him, they gave him a handful of snaps there in camp before asking him to settle into right guard.
Now he’s “completely comfortable” there.
The good news is that for 2025, McCormick shouldn’t have to move again. He is the Steelers’ starting right guard. While players like Dotson and Jones have pointed out playing their “natural” positions are the best thing for them, not every player is the same. Some are more comfortable moving around than others. McCormick, based on what he says publicly, at least, falls into that latter camp.
