PITTSBURGH — The Pittsburgh Steelers suffered a potentially major injury at practice on Wednesday, as starting left guard Isaac Seumalo left practice with an apparently serious pectoral injury, according to a report by Adam Schefter of ESPN.
Seumalo had been participating in the portion of practice open to the media, before the apparent injury.
Pectoral injuries are serious for offensive lineman and can frequently be season ending, but it does not appear that Seumalo’s will be. Schefter reported that he will not miss the entire season, likely meaning that his pec is not torn, but merely strained. Steelers outside linebacker T.J. Watt missed seven games when he suffered a pectoral injury in the season opener in 2022, and that was seen as a best-case scenario at that time.
The Steelers have a pair of promising young players at guard behind Seumalo, in 2023 seventh-round pick Spencer Anderson and 2024 fourth-round selection Mason McCormick.
Anderson, who played all over the line as a rookie last season, mostly honed in on the guard position this training camp and thrived, playing his best football in a Steelers uniform. The Steelers are also high on McCormick, a longtime starter at South Dakota State who played a ton of college football and is very experienced for a rookie.
The Steelers have a ton of injuries on the offensive line entering the season. Starting center Nate Herbig is out for the year with a torn rotator cuff. Rookie tackle Troy Fautanu has yet to return to practice from a preseason MCL sprain, backup tackle Dylan Cook is on the injured reserve list with a foot injury, and second-year tackle Broderick Jones has been playing through an elbow injury.
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Seumalo, 30, joined the Steelers in 2023 after spending the first seven years of his career with the Philadelphia Eagles. He stated 60 of 81 games over seven seasons in Philly, wining a Super Bowl at the end of the 2017 season and participating in another after the 2022 season.
Seumalo signed a three-year, $24 million contract with the Steelers last season and is under contract through the end of 2025.