Steelers hope new-look offensive line can become anchor for long-term success

Over a span of four draft classes that happened to begin just after the Pittsburgh Steelers’ most recent Super Bowl triumph, the organization drafted eight offensive linemen.

Five of their eight most premium draft picks between 2009 and 2012 — defined for this exercise as among the top two they made in any given draft — were invested in the offensive line. Prominent undrafted free-agent guards and tackles, too, were targeted.

Those efforts paid dividends via a cohesive, highly effective and close-knit group of linemen that formed the soul of some high-caliber offenses for a bevy of Steelers playoff teams in the mid-to-late 2010s.

Roughly a decade-and-a-half later, the Steelers’ actions are showing they have embarked on a similar O-line rebuild.

Five of their 14 draft picks the past two years have been devoted to offensive linemen, including both first-round picks in addition to a second rounder.

Time will tell if the group of Broderick Jones, Troy Fautanu, Zach Frazier and Mason McCormick turn into the next Maurkice Pouncey-David DeCastro-Marcus Gilbert-Ramon Foster grouping that was a staple of the Steelers for almost a full decade. But the intent is clearly the same.

“We’ve essentially changed the look of the room,” offensive line coach Pat Meyer said of his positional grouping. “In the last two years, we’ve changed the look of the room. It’s new guys, new starts.”

The Steelers routinely had among the best offensive lines in the NFL for a period stretching from about 2014-2019. But the men who comprised that rocky-steady unit, one by one, moved on.

Gilbert, the Steelers’ longtime right tackle, played his last NFL game in 2018. Foster, one of the longest-tenured guards in franchise history, retired after the next season. Pouncey, a center who will get serious Hall of Fame consideration, likewise retired a year later in January 2021, and five-year starting left tackle Alejandro Villanueva left via free agency that March (he retired the next offseason).

The Steelers offensive line since? Well, it’s been in flux. Two failed attempts in three years at finding a long-term center. Seemingly too many right tackles to count since Gilbert’s departure. Some $50 million-plus spent to stop the bleeding at the guard spots (for the most part, that’s largely been effective). And a bevy of fan ire at left tackle, where the incumbent starter’s play over the past three years has seemingly compelled the Steelers to keep drafting potential replacements.

This past weekend’s draft class, combined with the selection of Jones at No. 14 overall last April, could alleviate all that angst in one 13-month fell swoop.

“Any great team I’ve been around, it’s always going to start up front,” new Steelers offensive coordinator Arthur Smith said. “There’s obviously so many important pieces, but when you want to play a certain brand of football — the Steelers brand of football — it certainly helps to have the right guys (on the O-line).

“All these linemen, I’m really fired up to get a chance to work with them.”

Jones and the No. 20 overall pick Thursday, Fautanu, project as a bookend tackle tandem for — the team hopes — a decade. Frazier, the second-round pick Friday, might not end up a perennial All-Pro like Pouncey, but the Steelers would gladly take steady play from him at center for many years. McCormick, a fourth-round pick from South Dakota State, perhaps could be the next Foster, who overachieved for 11 NFL seasons as an undrafted player.

All four are under team control through (at least) 2027, and all four project at minimum as starting-caliber NFL linemen.

Safe to say Steelers management would be quite pleased if this attempt at “Extreme Makeover, Offensive Line Edition” bore the same fruit as the one they pulled off about 15 years ago did.

“I’m excited,” Frazier said. “I think the pieces are there to have a good core group of guys for a long period of time. I think with the offensive line, it’s important to build chemistry with the guys next to you. That’s kind of how it was with me at West Virginia. We had the same group of guys for basically three years. By my senior year, we were pretty tight and kind of knew what each other was thinking. I’m definitely excited for that one.”