The Pittsburgh Steelers made a flurry of moves to open the new league year, adding a number of veteran players at positions of need ahead of the new head coach Mike McCarthy’s first season.
But it’s one of the moves that they didn’t make that has created a hole on the roster, a hole that hasn’t been filled just yet. It might not be filled until the 2026 NFL Draft, either.
Letting starting left guard Isaac Seumalo walk in free agency, landing a three-year, $31.5 million deal with the Arizona Cardinals dealt a big blow to Pittsburgh’s offensive line. At that price tag and considering his age and injury history, it makes sense that the Steelers didn’t want to do business with Seumalo again.
That move by the Cardinals though is considered one of the best moves of free agency so far.
At least according to ESPN’s Seth Walder. In a piece highlighting the highest-graded free agency moves so far, Seumalo landed at No. 6 in Walder’s top 10.
“The Cardinals signed a win rate star at a value price. Seumalo recorded pass block win rate and run block win rates in the 98th and 95th percentiles at his position, respectively, last season as a Steeler,” Walder writes of Seumalo. “And it was not a unique year. In 2024, he was in the 89th percentile and 90th percentile in the two metrics, and was in the top quartile in 2023, too.”
When Seumalo was healthy, he was a very good player for the Steelers. Across three seasons after coming over from Philadelphia in free agency in 2023, Seumalo played 2,634 snaps in the regular season, according to Pro Football Focus. He allowed just five sacks and 67 pressures, pretty good numbers in a three-year span.
The only negative with Seumalo was he was always banged up the final two years, dealing with a pectoral injury in 2024 and a triceps injury in 2025. He’s also 33 years old, too, so the Steelers let him walk.
They haven’t addressed the position since letting him walk though. Spencer Anderson is in line to be the next starter, and he has some experience filling in for Seumal0. He doesn’t really move the needle a ton there though.
The 2026 NFL Draft offers the Steelers an opportunity to address the position, with Penn State’s Olaivavega Ioane a popular name for the Black and Gold in recent weeks. He would be a home run selection in the first round at No. 21 overall.
There are also options on Day 2 that make some sense, too, like Iowa’s Gennings Dunker, Georgia Tech’s Keylan Rutledge, and Notre Dame’s Billy Schrauth, among others.
But right now, losing Seumalo and not adequately replacing him to this point is a big blow for the Steelers up front, creating a real hole.