Player: OL Brock Hoffman
Stock Value: Purchased
Reasoning: Perhaps rounding out the Steelers’ free agent activity, Brock Hoffman gives the offensive line veteran depth, and a possible starter. While he hasn’t held a full-time job before, he has about a season’s worth of starting experience. Having previously worked with Mike McCarthy, he also has a leg up on the Steelers’ new offense.
With the Steelers losing starting LG Isaac Seumalo in free agency, Brock Hoffman offers a budget-friendly alternative option. In terms of in-house options, fourth-year Spencer Anderson figures to be the favorite to take over. But Hoffman is capable of competing for that role, and he has more knowledge of Pittsburgh’s new offense.
After all, the Steelers almost entirely turned over their coaching staff after Mike Tomlin’s resignation. In comes Mike McCarthy, who will call his own plays even if he isn’t nominally the offensive coordinator. While Brock Hoffman hasn’t worked with new OL coach James Campen, he is from McCarthy’s tree.
A 2022 college free agent out of Virginia Tech, Brodk Hoffman has spent nearly his entire career with the Cowboys. First signed by the Browns, he found his way to Dallas’ practice squad by November 2022. They promoted him to the 53-man roster in December, and he remained there through the end of last season.
But that means Hoffman was a restricted free agent this offseason, not an unrestricted free agent. That may have caused some delays in the Steelers actually signing him, which was reported some time ago. It didn’t happen officially until recently, though at this point, it makes no difference.
While the Steelers have Anderson and Hoffman in the building, the draft is a month away. It seems likely, arguably highly likely, that stiff competition will be brought in then. It’s hard to say how high a priority a guard might be as a first-round option. Any time after that, however, especially in the middle rounds, is prime real estate.
The Steelers drafted five offensive linemen combined in 2023 and 2024, but none in the surrounding years. Arguably, they hit on all of those draft picks, even if Broderick Jones hasn’t lived up to his 14th-overall pedigree. But if the rest of the group is solid, a guy like Brock Hoffman could be an enviable “weak link” along a quality line.
With the 2025 season behind us and the new league year underway, we still have stock to take. Already promising a year of change, they are shaking things up. That is unavoidable, of course, when you gut the coaching staff. Mike Tomlin’s resignation will fundamentally change this football team, including the playoffs on the roster.
After a long season, we have finally seen that this Steelers team is playoff-bound. But they also showed that their progress was actually minimal, since they made it no further. Two years in a row, with two different quarterbacks, they went 10-7 and lost in the Wild Card Round. The only differences are they ended the season on a higher note and won the division. But it didn’t help.