Zach Frazier spent the days before rookie minicamp engrossing himself in his newly acquired Steelers playbook which he received in the week leading up to the rookies gathering for the first time at the UPMC Rooney Sports Complex on Friday morning.
"I got my iPad and I've just been cramming ever since," Frazier told reporters following his first workout in a Steelers uniform.
That should be welcome news to fans, coaches, and the players who will benefit most from solid center play, namely Russell Wilson and Justin Fields, along with Najee Harris and Jaylen Warren.
Perhaps more than anyone, Frazier may hold the key to unlocking the entire offense. While it's hard to take too much from football in shorts, Frazier's physicality and strength stood out even amongst a talented group of rookies this weekend. He made moving those in front of him look effortless and snapped the football with ease. Quarterback play is still obviously the biggest factor in succeeding in the NFL, but when you consider that both Wilson and Fields like to hang onto the ball and were two of the most sacked quarterbacks in the league last year, Frazier's play takes on an even greater significance.
The Steelers obviously had woes at signal caller last year, but Mason Cole's play made the job of quarterback even tougher with his low snaps, which would occasionally result in negative plays. Cole also allowed far too much pressure up the middle, with Pro Football Focus ranking him 32nd among 36 qualified centers in pass blocking last season. While he was not the sole culprit in the team's offensive woes, Cole's play was at times a stark reminder of the importance of the center position.
Now with Frazier the Steelers are hoping they've found the anchor of their offensive line for the foreseeable future. He'll be a Day 1 starter and he looked the part over the weekend.
Hailing from Fairmont, West Virginia, just 90 minutes south of Pittsburgh, Frazier is familiar with the legendary centers who have donned the black and gold, including Hall of Famers Mike Webster and Dermontti Dawson, and more recently Maurkice Pouncey, who may also find himself in the hallowed halls of Canton in the future.
"It's a little bit of extra pressure on me but I'm just going to work as hard as I can," Frazier said. "Try to put my head down and just work."
After three seasons of subpar center play following Pouncey's retirement, if Frazier can snap the ball consistently and protect the quarterback, it will be a welcome change. Not to mention Harris and Warren likely won't mind some extra help in the ground game, especially with the two likely to get even more carries than they did last year in Arthur Smith's scheme.
Watching Frazier over the weekend makes me even more excited to see him go against Keeanu Benton in Latrobe this summer.
Other observations from rookie minicamp:
• Mason McCormick lining up at right guard raises some interesting questions. After playing left guard during his South Dakota State career, McCormick seemed like a natural replacement for Isaac Seumalo down the line. Seumalo is under contract through 2025 but he'll turn 31 this fall and is one of the team's more expensive offensive players, with a cap number around $10 million in each of the next two seasons. However, McCormick lining up on the right side during rookie minicamp squashes some of that thinking. Perhaps he's the replacement for James Daniels instead. Daniels will turn just 27 around the start of the 2024 season, his seventh in the NFL. Daniels has been one of the team's more consistent offensive line players since he arrived ahead of the 2022 season and his relatively young age combined with a wealth of experience made him seem like a good candidate for a contract extension, as he's only signed through the coming season But with guards commanding higher salaries than ever before, it's possible the Steelers opt to move on from Daniels when his contract expires. It also appears Omar Khan is looking to have plenty of salary cap flexibility next year, with no long-term plan at quarterback and Harris set to become an unrestricted free agent after the team declined his fifth-year option earlier this month.
• It's easy to see why Roman Wilson caught Mike Tomlin's eye at the Senior Bowl. Wilson's speed was evident and his lateral movements looked fluid. He should be a fun player to watch.
• Troy Fautanu lining up at right tackle right off the bat makes the Steelers plan pretty clear--Fautanu on the right side, Broderick Jones on the left--but I'm not so certain Dan Moore winds up being the swing tackle. Tomlin was emphatic last year that Moore is "significantly" better on the left side than the right, which is why Jones wound up playing right tackle after Chukwuma Okorafor was benched midseason. It may be unorthodox but I could see a scenario where if Fautanu gets injured, Jones slides back to the right side and Moore replaces Jones at left tackle.
• Many have already speculated that Payton Wilson could be the steal of the draft at No. 98 overall and watching him work did nothing to tamp down that speculation, at least for this writer. He was already calling defensive signals on Friday and did so with authority. Wilson may have fallen in the draft due to concerns over his right knee but there was no sign of his knee--or anything else--giving him much trouble this weekend. I'm not suggesting he'll be the next Ryan Shazier but he's he first off-ball linebacker the Steelers have had since Shazier that could possess his play-making ability.
• Daijuan Edwards turned some heads over the weekend. He'll have plenty to prove during offseason workouts and training camp with Harris, Warren, and Cordarrelle Patterson already occupying the running back room but Edwards is a name to remember over the coming months.
• What we saw on the field this weekend was just further proof of what Khan is trying to build in his second draft--a team full of physical and fast players who are athletes above all. Fautanu, Frazier, McCormick and Logan Lee are the latest additions to the trenches and all displayed their physicality, while the two Wilsons, Roman and Payton, showed their fast 40 times at the Combine were no fluke. It's become clear the Steelers are looking for players with elite traits and innate athletic ability that cannot be taught.
• Arthur Smith was vocal on the field this weekend, a welcome departure from the team's previous offensive coordinator. It was nice to see him out there coaching up the rookies.
• Something I noticed this weekend as well as at last year's rookie minicamp was Tomlin being quieter than he is during a typical practice. Not totally silent but less boisterous than usual as he observed every position group carefully. Following Saturday morning's session, Tomlin said he watches to see how the rookie players are learning and how they retain information, as well as paying attention to their levels of conditioning. The rookies will soon get used to hearing the booming voice of their head coach all over the practice field when OTAs begin on May 21.
• This isn't an observation but boy, was it nice to be watching football players on a football field after several months of nothing but offseason speculation. Rookie minicamp was the first step of the long march towards the 2024 season and it just felt good to be observing from the sidelines once again.
