Pittsburgh Steelers guard Isaac Seumalo blocks against the Chicago Bears on Nov. 23, 2025. — Ed Thompson / Steelers Now
Following the release of tight end Jonnu Smith, the Pittsburgh Steelers currently have around $50 million in salary cap. The biggest remaining decision on the docket is whether or not to re-sign 10-year vet Isaac Seumalo.
The Oregon State product has delivered consistently quality play, despite dealing with some injuries, since arriving in the city in 2023. PFF has him ranked as their top available guard, but with a projected contract of one year, $8 million.
Seumalo’s game isn’t predicated on athleticism, but rather on technical polish and fast processing. In pass protection, he plays with consistently tight hands to latch on to defenders, plays with good pad level, and still shows good knee bend to drop his anchor efficiently when faced with power in a phone booth. His eyes are always scanning, whether it’s identifying additional threats pre-snap or looking for work when uncovered.Â
As a run blocker, Seumalo still shows enough burst off the snap to get to his landmarks efficiently on zone concepts and will flash the ability to torque guys out of the gap to create cutback lanes. He plays with good timing in the run game, works well on combos, and understands when to take over the block or come off to work to the next defender.
Because of the scheme, Seumalo didn’t get the chance to pull very often, but he showed a pretty good radar for intersecting targets in space, and some of his best finishes came on these reps. You’ll never confuse him for a mauler because his drive power is merely average.
Overall, Seumalo is still a solid starter who is ideally the third or fourth best offensive lineman on your unit, which is the case in Pittsburgh because they have a couple of ascending stars in Zach Frazier and Troy Fautanu. When players get up into their mid-30s, you always have to be prepared for a decline athletically, but the bigger concern is really his injury history. His body has taken a beating over the years and was a main reason he was so affordable the last go-around. Typically, offensive linemen get overpaid in free agency since the NFL is always fighting the supply and demand battle. There simply aren’t enough people this big walking the planet.Â
The Steelers need to make getting younger a priority this offseason, but that mostly pertains to the defense. Seumalo’s experience makes him uniquely valuable in this situation because of the youth around him in the trenches. The short-term future of the left tackle position is obviously in flux. His high football IQ has masked some of Broderick Jones’ weaknesses in recent seasons to a degree, and Dylan Cook will likely need those same guardrails early as the current odds on starter for opening day.
It’s important to remember that an offensive line is only as good in the modern NFL as its worst player. It’s difficult enough to patch over a known weak link with how modern defenses are designing their pressure paths these days. However, it’s impossible to overcome an entire side getting rocked on a play-by-play basis. The Patriots-Seahawks Super Bowl is a good example of how one side getting consistently detonated off the ball in pass pro collapses the foundation of the pocket and, in turn, nukes the passing game. So long as he stays healthy, Seumalo’s presence quells those concerns.Â
If the Steelers look elsewhere on the open market, there are a couple solutions that make sense. David Edwards has been a two-year starter with the Buffalo Bills and offers a very similar skill set and turns 29 later this month. Of course, that also means that he’s likely to command more money. With Mike McCarthy steering the ship, Pittsburgh’s spending habits will hopefully be more evenly distributed between the sides of the ball. Alijah Vera-Tucker, a former first-rounder, offers the most upside, but his injury history makes it difficult to talk yourself into his availability moving forward.
What Pittsburgh decides to do at quarterback will garner much more of the storylines in the coming days for obvious reasons. When you look around at the options, it’s hard to find someone worth believing in as a franchise guy. With that being said, continuing to solidify the ecosystem for the future is of the utmost importance. If Seumalo isn’t part of that equation, the Steelers must be diligent in finding a comparable-level replacement.
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