A mini-series to finish out the Pittsburgh Steelers’ 2025 offseason ahead of training camp. A checklist of goals to reach by the time the team breaks camp in mid-August.
Training Camp Goal No. 2 – Learn About A Young Offensive Line
As much fanfare as the Steelers’ offseason has brought, the glitz and glam of skill position players and headline names like QB Aaron Rodgers, WR DK Metcalf, and CB Jalen Ramsey, it’s taken the collective eye off the ball. The true measure of Pittsburgh’s success this year and beyond is through its offensive line, a young and talented group carrying a high ceiling but a low floor.
Become a top-10 unit? Sure, that’s possible. Crash and burn to a bottom-10 group? Also on the table.
Broderick Jones. Troy Fautanu. Mason McCormick. Three players under the microscope. Jones is coming off a rough second NFL season. Fautanu barely had a rookie year, playing five quarters of preseason and regular-season games combined. McCormick took over for an injured James Daniels after Week 4 and held his own, but his game has plenty of room to grow.
Pittsburgh can’t have this unit fail. Doing so has obvious short-term ramifications. A running game that doesn’t progress. A quarterback who isn’t protected. Teams can scheme around a lot, but there’s no masking a faulty offensive line. There are long-term consequences, too. Another bad year from Jones would have the team searching for a future left tackle. Confidence in Fautanu will be shaken if there’s little ROI two years into his NFL career. McCormick is no slam dunk as a long-term starter either, while the one veteran of the front five, LG Isaac Seumalo, is on an expiring contract and could need to be replaced next offseason. On top of all the other areas Pittsburgh must address in 2026, beginning with quarterback, the team can’t drop its bucks back into the offensive line well.
Training camp alone doesn’t tell you everything. A true test will come over the first month of the season when Pittsburgh faces defensive-minded head coaches like the New York Jets’ Aaron Glenn, New England Patriots’ Mike Vrabel, and an ultra-aggressive defensive coordinator like the Minnesota Vikings’ Brian Flores—guys who know how to scheme up the pressure and chaos.
But camp is the starting point. Will Jones look comfortable and natural at left tackle, doing a 180 from how he looked a summer ago? A fuller look at Fautanu is important; he has plenty of reps to catch up on. Does McCormick make strides, lowering his pad level in the running game and being better on his edges in pass protection? Even C Zach Frazier has to go out and prove it again; his relationship with Rodgers is key.
A good camp won’t rubber stamp the regular season. But there must be a point where there’s confidence about the Steelers’ offensive line. For too long, there’s been (understandable) pessimism, or at best a blank slate of uncertainty. An encouraging summer is the way to achieve that.