Is The Steelers’ Dominant Offensive Line Back?
Credit: Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports
Football games, particularly in the AFC North, are won and lost in the trenches. For years, this is where the Steelers excelled, as David DeCastro, Alejandro Villanueva, and Maurkice Pouncey all held down the fort for nearly a decade. However, they have all since retired, and Pittsburgh’s offensive line has recently found itself in hard times.
The Steelers, however, have steadily improved their protection unit since all those players departed. It culminated in their current group, which is as good of a line (at least, on paper) as they’ve had since the late 2010s. Now, with the line slowly but surely finding its identity, how they perform will likely be the determining factor in how Arthur Smith’s offense performs in 2024.
The offensive line rebuild took major strides over the last two offseasons. In 2023, they got to work by signing guard Isaac Seumalo away from the Tush Push Party in Philadelphia; a month later, they drafted Broderick Jones out of Georgia with their first-round pick in the 2023 Draft.
Seumalo wound up being their best acquisition last season. His three-year, $24 million deal paid dividends, as he was far and away the most steady and consistent lineman for the Steelers. The left guard played over 97% of the Steelers’ offensive snaps in 2023, where he allowed zero sacks, four QB hits, 26 pressures, and only committed one penalty.
Jones, on the other hand, had a decent but inconsistent rookie season. He started at right tackle for the final ten games of the season and was much more efficient as a run blocker than as a pass blocker. In Arthur Smith’s offense, which will likely be run-first, Jones’ skillset will play a key part in allowing Najee Harris and Jaylen Warren to be a two-headed monster at running back.
Run blocking has been one of Jones’ strengths since his college days.
Here's Broderick Jones against Will Anderson in 2021. He is a powerful run blocker, one that controls the line of scrimmage consistently.
Like I said, really fits what Pittsburgh wants to do offensively. pic.twitter.com/sEfxNw58YJ
— Josh Carney (@ByJoshCarney) April 28, 2023
Their O-Line reconstruction continued in the 2024 Draft. Pittsburgh’s first two draft picks went to tackle Troy Fautanu and center Zach Frazier.
Fautanu was part of a loaded offensive tackle rookie class of 2024. As the starting left tackle for Washington’s explosive offense, he was elite as a pass blocker. In 2023, he allowed only two total sacks, and he never allowed more than two pressures in a single game all season. The stalwart is hoping to bring the physicality he demonstrated at Washington to his new home.
“We want to be the most physical offensive line (in the NFL),” Fautanu said to Jason Mackey of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. “We want people to watch our film and be afraid of us.”
Assuming Fautanu gets the nod at left tackle, he will take over the starting role from Dan Moore, who was one of the worst starting left tackles in the league in 2023. Moore particularly struggled in the passing game, earning a pass-blocking grade of 39.7 from PFF. It was the worst rating for any tackle in the NFL who played at least 13 games. For context, only one other tackle in that group, Terence Steele of the Dallas Cowboys, even had a pass-blocking grade below 50, let alone sub-40.
Frazier, a second-rounder, will be taking over the starting center job for Mason Cole, who was released in February. Frazier had a remarkably solid career at West Virginia, earning Second-Team All-Big 12 honors in 2021 and 2022 and First-Team honors in 2023. Like Fautanu, he was an elite pass blocker; he didn’t allow a single sack and only allowed six pressures in the entire year.
This corps of young big men will play a huge role in how the offense functions in 2024. Smith is expected to place a heavy emphasis on the run, and Harris is in a contract year. Both will look to the O-Line to step up their game so Harris can produce numbers that justify a second contract in Pittsburgh.
“They’ve kind of made a resurgence,” Steelers legend Jerome Bettis said of the offensive line. “They’ve got some draft picks. They put some thought into the offensive line, and now I believe [Harris will] be running behind the best offensive line he will have had all of [his] years in Pittsburgh.”
In the passing game, protecting Wilson and Fields is of the utmost importance, especially considering the wide receiver depth beyond George Pickens is unproven. In addition, since 2021, no quarterbacks have taken more sacks than Fields (135) and Wilson (133). Going back to 2020, Wilson has been sacked a league-leading 180 times, 32 more than the next closest quarterback (Joe Burrow). An offensive line that gives them time to function will be a massive breath of fresh air for whoever starts, and a sign of optimism for the offense as a whole.
In a year with a new offensive coordinator in Smith, an entirely new quarterback depth chart, and an inexperienced receiver corps, the rising O-Line will need to step up to allow the Steelers’ skill players to get the ball down the field.
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