The Pittsburgh Steelers’ offensive line has undergone a makeover over the previous half-decade, with the likes of Alejandro Villanueva, Ramon Foster, Maurkice Pouncey, David DeCastro and Marcus Gilbert all departing the staff previous to the beginning of the 2021 season. Since then, Pittsburgh has been trying to retool a unit that beforehand stood among the many league’s greatest, signing varied free brokers and drafting others that didn’t work out of their respective tenures with the staff.
At present, Pittsburgh goes into the season with Broderick Jones, Isaac Seumalo, Zach Frazier, Mason McCormick and Troy Fautanu as their projected starters from left to proper alongside the offensive line. Seumalo is a seasoned veteran coming into his tenth NFL season, however the different 4 starters for Pittsburgh have solely 1-2 years of expertise within the league. One may argue that Fautanu must be handled extra like a rookie after lacking all however 55 snaps final yr with a season-ending knee damage.
This youth alongside the offensive line might be considered as each a constructive and a damaging for Pittsburgh, relying on one’s perspective. In fact, this unit must anticipate some rising pains to start out the season as they give the impression of being to mesh collectively. All however Fautanu noticed legit sport motion alongside one another final season, however Broderick Jones will probably be transferring from proper deal with to left deal with. On the similar time, Mason McCormick would be the clear starter at RG heading into the season after former Steelers G James Daniels started the season because the starter final yr.
Nonetheless, this youth alongside the Steelers’ offensive line offers them the chance to have the unit develop collectively, much like what their earlier notable group did again in 2012-2014. Pittsburgh drafted DeCastro, Mike Adams and Kelvin Beachum in 2012 to pair with Pouncey, Foster and Gilbert, who had come over from the earlier season.
Pouncey and DeCastro would become Professional Bowlers on the inside, with Foster turning into a stable starter for a number of years. Beachum began 39 video games for Pittsburgh earlier than getting injured in 2015, opening the door for Villanueva to take the beginning job and develop into a fixture at left deal with for Pittsburgh the following six seasons. Gilbert would go on to start out 87 video games for Pittsburgh at proper deal with, turning into a high quality starter like Foster was inside earlier than accidents affected the again half of his profession.
Now, this isn’t to say that this 2025 Steelers’ offensive line goes to develop into just like the 2015 unit. Nonetheless, simply as we noticed with that unit, the offensive line needed to endure some rising pains over a time period and changed a few items to develop into a dominant unit upfront. The identical is believable for this 2025 unit as they give the impression of being to develop into a stable group that may develop and work collectively. We noticed cases of it final season as Frazier and McCormick regarded notably good beside one another, giving Pittsburgh a much-needed bodily demeanor within the working sport.
Teaching will go a good distance in how the 2025 unit develops. Nobody might be going to confuse OL coach Pat Meyer with Mike Munchak, who helped develop that unit a decade in the past. Nonetheless, the funding is there with two first-round picks, a second-round decide and a fourth-round decide into the Steelers’ offensive line in simply the final two seasons, together with Seumalo, who got here to the staff on a large deal in free company again in 2023.
With the typical age of the Steelers’ offensive line being 25.4 years previous, there may be loads of promise for this unit in years to come back, no matter whether or not Seumalo is re-signed after this season. Nonetheless, with their youth comes a scarcity of expertise enjoying collectively, which implies they are going to probably face rising pains this coming season. If Fautanu comes again from damage properly and Jones reveals extra confidence on the left facet, this unit may set itself up as a sturdy up-and-coming group to concentrate to throughout the league.
