Steelers A to Z: Max Scharping brought back after providing veteran depth on interior OL

Editor’s note: From now until reporting day to training camp at Saint Vincent College, TribLive is running through the Pittsburgh Steelers’ 90-man roster, looking at each player and assessing his outlook for the 2025 season. The breakdown will run in alphabetical order with at least two players each day between June 12 and July 23. Contract data courtesy spotrac.com.

G MAX SCHARPING

Experience/age: Seventh season, turns 29 next month

Contract status: $1.198 million cap hit in 2025, will become an unrestricted free agent in 2026

The past: A second-round pick out of Northern Illinois in 2019, Scharping started 14 games at left guard for the Houston Texans as a rookie. The next two seasons, though, he was more of a sporadic starter, shifting to the right side in 2021. By the end of the following preseason, the 6-foot-6, 327-pound Scharping was waived.

Over the next two calendar years, Scharping was property of three teams – but he only appeared in games for the Cincinnati Bengals, and only as a backup with no starts. Over the 2022 and 2023 seasons, Scharping played only 43 offensive snaps (as well as 140 on special teams). The Washington Commanders signed Scharping to their practice squad just prior to last regular season’s opener, and the Steelers plucked him off of it during Week 5. Added to the Steelers’ active roster, Scharping was mostly a healthy scratch the rest of the season. When he was in uniform, sometimes he did not play.

Needing help on the O-line, the #Steelers have signed veteran Max Scharping off the practice squad of the Washington Commanders.https://t.co/QMVbBixuBh

— Tribune-Review Sports (@TribSports) October 3, 2024

2025 outlook: A veteran of 81 NFL games and 33 starts, Scharping appeared in three games for the Steelers (including their wild-card playoff loss). He played seven snaps at left guard and three on the placekick block team. But apparently the Steelers liked enough of what they saw of Scharping in those games (or, more likely, in practices) that they re-signed him to a one-year deal this April.

Scharping and Spencer Anderson open camp as the top backups at guard, with Ryan McCollum the No. 2 center behind the starting interior trio of (right to left) Mason McCormick, Zach Frazier and Isaac Seumalo. With the exception of Seumalo, the Steelers are starting a very young offensive line. That might have played a part in wanting a veteran such as Scharping around. Other candidates for backup guard roles include Nick Broeker (who was signed in May), Aiden Williams (an undrafted rookie from Division II Minnesota-Duluth) and Steven Jones (spent all of his rookie 2024 season on the Jacksonville practice squad). Scharping has a leg up on a 53-man roster spot.