Steelers Young Offensive Line Depth Will Be Tested after Injuries
The Pittsburgh Steelers young offensive linemen, including rookie Mason McCormick, will be tested after a string of injuries along the unit.
PITTSBURGH — The Pittsburgh Steelers lost a big piece of their offensive line depth when Nate Herbig was placed on the injured reserve list on Tuesday, ending his 2024 season.
Herbig had been the starting center throughout OTAs, minicamp and training camp, but was expected to eventually give way to 2024 second-round pick Zach Frazier. In fact, Frazier had been coming on strong in the last week of training camp and might have passed Herbig for the starting job anyway.
In some ways, missing out on Herbig as a starting center isn’t that big of a deal. But the depth he provided, as he did last season, across three interior offensive line spots, is a loss of consequence.
Last season, Herbig was the top backup at center and guard, playing in 156 snaps over the course of the season and making two starts in place of injured players.
That’s 156 more snaps than any of the team’s top interior backups have played. The Steelers have some promise in the depth of their offensive line, but without Herbig, it will be painfully inexperienced.
Spencer Anderson has been the team’s top backup at guard all training camp. The 2023 seventh-round pick played multiple positions at college, but guard seems to suit him the best at the NFL level. He’s replaced Isaac Seumalo when he gets vet days off and was one of the few linemen that could feel pretty good about his performance against the Buffalo Bills last Saturday.
Anderson also worked at tackle some in that game, and he may be needed there more this week. Rookie Troy Fautanu is still out with a knee injury, and swing backup Dylan Cook showed up in a ankle boot on Tuesday.
Anderson took a bunch of reps at center last year in training camp, but with his success at guard and the team need at tackle, he hasn’t been asked to do any of that this offseason.
Fourth-round rookie Mason McCormick played a very small amount of center during his time at South Dakota State, but was talked about a lot in the pre-draft process as a player that could move to center.
Before the Steelers drafted Frazier, McCormick was one of a number of mid-round guards that looked like they could be decent backup options for the team at center. McCormick has been working as the de facto No. 4 center all training camp, snapping the ball to fourth-team quarterback John Rhys Plumlee when the team works on center exchanges at the early portion of practice.
He said on Tuesday that there’s been some increased urgency to get him some playing time there since Herbig was injured, and you may see McCormick play some center this week in Detroit.
“He’s a guy that’s versatile, but we’ve got a lot of guys that are versatile,” Tomlin said. “Spencer is versatile, as well. He’s done some of that in the past, and so we feel really comfortable about our multi-positional flexibility there.”
The Steelers are versatile. They’re even promising in many ways. They’re just green. McCormick is a rookie and Anderson didn’t play a single snap in his rookie year. Cook is in his third pro season without a regular season rep.
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