Steelers A to Z: Versatile Spencer Anderson returns for Year 3 as top reserve 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.
OL SPENCER ANDERSON
Experience/age: Third season, 25
Contract status: $1.049 million cap hit in 2025, signed through 2026
The past: A seventh-round pick in 2023, Anderson quickly made an impression and stuck on the active roster all throughout his first two NFL seasons. With college experience at all five positions along the offensive line, he’s been valued for his versatility. Though primarily a guard, Anderson has taken plenty of reps at tackle during his training camps and in-season practice regimen.
Anderson’s sporadic playing time on offense during the regular season has come as a fill-in at tackle or guard along with as a “jumbo” tight end, in addition to on special teams. He appeared in all 18 games (including playoffs) last season, making five starts — three at left guard and two at right guard.
2025 outlook: Anderson spent the offseason as the top reserve on the interior of the offensive line. When Nate Herbig went down with a season-ending injury during last year’s training camp, Anderson became the top backup option at both guard spots and at different times in 2024 filled in for then-starters Isaac Seumalo, James Daniels and Mason McCormick.
Though Ryan McCollum is the Steelers’ preferred option as the backup center (Andreson rarely practices there anymore), Anderson and veteran Max Scharping are the proverbial leaders in the clubhouse to begin 2025 as the backup interior linemen on the 53-man roster. That Anderson can play tackle probably gives him a leg up in “earning a hat” (dressing on gamedays). The Steelers did not draft an offensive lineman this year, which both provides a tacit show of confidence in Anderson and alleviates some of the level of prospective competition for Anderson’s roster spot.
Chris Adamski is a TribLive reporter who has covered primarily the Pittsburgh Steelers since 2014 following two seasons on the Penn State football beat. A Western Pennsylvania native, he joined the Trib in 2012 after spending a decade covering Pittsburgh sports for other outlets. He can be reached at cadamski@triblive.com.
Remove the ads from your TribLIVE reading experience but still support the journalists who create the content with TribLIVE Ad-Free.