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Steel City Underground presents our 2024 Steelers Recall: a look back at Pittsburgh Steelers games and storylines from last season.
The Pittsburgh Steelers were heavily focused on rebuilding their offensive line over the last few seasons. On the first day of the 2024 NFL Draft, the Steelers would stick with those plans, selecting Oregon State offensive tackle Troy Fautanu. Fautanu would be the second offensive tackle the Steelers took in the first round in consecutive drafts, but they still had one more major hole to fill on their line heading into day two of the 2024 draft.
Steel City Underground’s draft group discussed the possibility that Omar Khan would likely target a true center in the second round. The uncertainty was whether one of the top prospects would still be on the board when the Steelers picked at No. 51 overall.
The Steelers would spend back-to-back picks on offensive linemen for the first time since selecting Mike Adams and David DeCastro in the 2012 NFL Draft. Pittsburgh selected West Virginia center Zach Frazier in the second round to pair with the Fautanu pick.
Frazier may have slid a bit on teams’ draft boards due to the broken leg he’d received in the Mountaineers’ final regular-season game in 2023. However, the former wrestler and gritty offensive center looked healthy at the NFL Scouting Combine that spring. Frazier recorded 30 bench press repetitions (225 pounds) and was well known for his weightlifting and conditioning efforts.
Frazier was ranked 3rd in production, 13th in athleticism, and 4th among all NFL prospects at the center position per NFL.com.
New Steelers offensive coordinator Arthur Smith, who has a history of building offenses with a focus on controlling the line of scrimmage, said after the pick of Frazier, “If you want to play a certain brand of football… the Steelers brand of football… it certainly helps to have the right guys.”
Some of Frazier’s strengths were his exceptional core strength and solid frame, upper body power that allows him to widen run lanes, the ability to drive opponents into the ground, quick visual awareness, solid punch and placement of hands.
The plan going forward was to pair the rookies, Fautanu and Frazier, with 2023 first round selection OT Broderick Jones and well compensated veteran guards Isaac Seumalo and James Daniels to build toward Smith’s vision.
Frazier would start the summer behind veteran Nate Herbig for reps as the Steelers starting center. However, Herbig would sustain an injury early in the preseason process and be placed on injured reserve, opening the doors for Frazier to become the starter.
Frazier would start 15 games as a rookie, and was ranked the 6th best center in the NFL (out of a possible 60) by Pro Football Focus (PFF).
Also, he was one of nine centers to give up a single sack or fewer (with a minimum of 900 blocking snaps) according to PFF. Frazier would be named to PFF’s All-Rookie team for his 2024 performance.
Following Frazier’s selection the Steelers had a pair of third round picks to use to shore up some other positions on the roster. One move would attempt to fill another glaring hole on the wide receiver depth chart, but did not work as planned.
With pick 84 overall, the Steelers selected Michigan WR Roman Wilson. He would start the trend of Pittsburgh adding players that attended this year’s Senior Bowl. The 5’11”, 185 pound receiver played for the 2023 NCAA championship Michigan Wolverines squad, bringing a tenacity that helped the champions’ run game. He would also add speed to the Steelers receiving corps.
At the combine Wilson recorded a 40-yard dash time of 4.39 seconds and a 1.52 second 10-yard split.
Wilson was a second-team All-Big Ten Conference awardee, and Michigan’s Co-Offensive Skill Player of the Year. He led the Wolverines with 48 receptions for 789 yards in 2023 and tied for ninth in the FBS with 12 receiving touchdowns. The receiver attacked the intermediate and deep portions of the field for Michigan.
The hope was Wilson would take pressure off of George Pickens, a budding star who was often double-teamed without another viable receiving threat on the field. Like the bad luck that struck Fautanu, that plan never materialized either. Wilson would not play in the preseason and spent most of his 2024 season on injured reserve or inactive. He would dress for a single game in Week 6 against the Las Vegas Raiders, totaling five offensive snaps.
With their other third round selection (98th overall) the Steelers would surprise everyone by taking another player with the last name Wilson, though the true surprise was the draft’s top-ranked linebacker falling into the bottom of the top 100 picks.
Despite signing Patrick Queen to a large free agent contract nearly one month earlier, GM Omar Khan addressed the interior linebacker position again with the addition of North Carolina State’s Payton Wilson. The 6’4″, 233 pound linebacker recorded a 4.43 second time in the 40-yard dash at the combine.
His overall combine score ranked first among all linebackers, but he would fall into the bottom of the third round after teams discovered he played without an ACL.
A multi-sport high school athlete, Wilson had a non-stop motor to find his way into high tackle opportunities. Wilson also possessed the sideline-to-sideline flexibility and speed the Steelers covet in their pass defense schemes.
With the team having lost both playcalling linebackers Cole Holcomb and Kwon Alexander to season-ending injuries in 2023, the addition of Wilson would provide a safety net in 2024. Snagging
2024 Steelers Season Recall: Doubling down on o-line on day two of draft appeared first on Steel City Underground.