Steelers A to Z: Ryan McCollum established himself as No. 2 center last season

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.

C RYAN MCCOLLUM

Experience/age: 30 regular-season games, 27

Contract status: $1.03 million cap hit in 2025, after which scheduled for restricted free agency

The past: After making 24 starts over four seasons at Texas A&M, McCollum went unpicked during the 2021 NFL draft. He signed with the Houston Texans for their rookie minicamp and began the regular season on their practice squad until the Detroit Lions signed him off of it to their active roster. McCollum was in uniform for every game the rest of the season, mostly as a special-teamer. But he did make one start at center among four appearances on offense. Those 13 games as a rookie were the final regular-season games the 6-foot-5, 300-pound McCollum appeared in for three years.

The Lions waived McCollum during the next summer’s training camp, and the Steelers claimed him. With only small interruption, he’s been part of the organization since. But it wasn’t until last season that he made the 53-man roster.

Ryan McCollum is set to make his second NFL start and first for the Steelers when he fills in for injured center Zach Frazier during Sunday night’s game against the Jets. https://t.co/vYyYfIkYMf

— Tribune-Review Sports (@TribSports) October 19, 2024

2025 outlook: McCollum was one of 22 players to appear in all 18 games (including playoffs) for the 2024 Steelers. He made two starts in place of an injured Zach Frazier in October. The Steelers won both games, a period that happened to coincide with quarterback Russell Wilson’s first two starts of the season. Incidentally, McCollum’s two starts also represented the second-best two-game span of total points for the Steelers’ offense.

McCollum last season was the beneficiary of the unfortunate season-ending shoulder injury suffered by veteran Nate Herbig during training camp. Herbig was running as the first-team center at the time, albeit with an inevitability that then-rookie Fraizer would take over. McCollum wasn’t the top backup at guard, but the Steelers appreciate his center capability and that was enough for McCollum to be in uniform all season.

Will that happen again in 2025? Aside from Fraizer, the only other offensive linemen on the roster who have any significant in-game experience at all are veterans Max Scharping and Spencer Anderson. Both are better at other positions, though. So, barring injury or outside acquisition, expect McCollum to be the Steelers’ C2 again this season.