Center Mason Cole: Steelers' line should be motivated by record, not additions

Despite improved play by the offensive line in the second half of the 2022 season, the Pittsburgh Steelers signed three free agents and used two draft picks, including their first-rounder, to fortify the position room.

Center Mason Cole, whose position was the only one on the line not addressed in the offseason, said the five incumbent starters don’t need to use the abundance of newcomers as motivation. One look at the standings should do the trick.

“I don’t think anybody is going to be satisfied,” Cole said Wednesday after the team’s fifth organized team activity workout. “We didn’t make the playoffs last year, so there’s not much to be satisfied about.”

The Steelers missed qualifying for the postseason on a tiebreaker after winning seven of their final nine games, including the final four, to finish 9-8.

“Sure, we ended the season well, and the second half of the season we played great, but when you’re sitting at home in January, it’s not the best feeling,” Cole said. “There is always going to be hunger, especially in our room.

“We’ve got a really good group of guys, some good additions, and we’re going to try to build with them.”

The Steelers brought in Isaac Seumalo from the Philadelphia Eagles to play left guard, a position manned by Kevin Dotson last year. Broderick Jones was drafted in the first round to compete at left tackle with two-year starter Dan Moore. Guard Nate Herbig and tackle Le’Raven Clark were signed to provide depth.

The quantity of players brought in showed Steelers management wasn’t expecting a repeat of 2022 when not one of the starting five missed a game because of injury. The quality, particularly in the case of Seumalo and Jones, showed the organization wasn’t satisfied with the play at certain positions, either.

“We can talk about last year all we want,” Cole said. “Obviously, we’ve got new guys in this room. Each year is different. We’ll have different challenges this year, different things to work on. This time of the year there is so much talk about how good we want to be, how good we can be, but there is so much work to be done between now and September.

“We’ve still got to build this room to be better.”

Cole expects the Steelers to rally around one of the newcomers: Seumalo, an eighth-year veteran who played in two Super Bowls with the Philadelphia Eagles.

“He’s going to be a really good leader for us,” Cole said.

Cole was asked who led the offensive line group in 2022 when he and James Daniels were free-agent additions and right tackle Chuks Okorafor was the only returning veteran starter.

“Everyone leads in a different way,” he said. “Chuks is never going to say much. Chuks will never be a talker, but Chuks is going to block that defensive end. He’s not going to say much about it, but he’s going to block him. Everyone has their ways of leading, whether it’s vocal or not. Across our room, we’ve got a lot of leaders.”