{"id":40600,"date":"2025-05-11T02:39:08","date_gmt":"2025-05-11T02:39:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/40600\/"},"modified":"2025-05-11T02:39:08","modified_gmt":"2025-05-11T02:39:08","slug":"pff-says-zach-frazier-has-a-chance-to-become-best-center-in-nfl","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/40600\/","title":{"rendered":"PFF Says Zach Frazier Has A Chance To Become Best Center In NFL"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Pittsburgh Steelers used a second-round pick in 2024 on Zach Frazier, a center out of West Virginia. After his rookie season, that\u2019s looking like an extremely good pickup.<\/p>\n

His career is still young, but Frazier certainly started on the right foot in 2024. He played so well, Pro Football Focus\u2019 Dalton Wasserman listed him as a player who could become the best at his position, in an article published on Thursday.\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cPittsburgh had its share of struggles on offense last season, but rookie center Zach Frazier wasn\u2019t one of them,\u201d Wasserman wrote. \u201cHis 77.9 overall grade ranked sixth among centers, and he allowed just one sack across 16 games.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Steelers fell off a cliff towards the end of the 2024 season, and the offense in general was poor during that stretch. However, the case can be made that Pittsburgh might not have even had a chance at the playoffs if not for Frazier\u2019s efforts.<\/p>\n

Frazier earned the starting role on short notice. Nate Herbig injured his shoulder just before the season began<\/a>, sidelining him for the year. He wasn\u2019t the only lineman to suffer an injury, either. Rookie Troy Fautanu played one game, before suffering a season-ending knee injury a couple of weeks into the season.<\/p>\n

Across the unit, bodies were dropping left and right<\/a> towards the start of the year. For Frazier, that put him in a tough spot. The center is the quarterback of the offensive line. Frazier deserves a lot of praise for stepping up and leading a beaten and bruised unit as a rookie. Considering the fact that Pittsburgh started the year 10-3, it\u2019s even more impressive.<\/p>\n

Wasserman understands Frazier has some competition to be truly considered the best at his position. Still, he thinks it\u2019s possible that Frazier can get there.<\/p>\n

\u201cKansas City\u2019s Creed Humphrey still holds a firm grip on the top spot at the position, but Frazier has a chance to close the gap,\u201d Wasserman wrote. \u201cHis 60.2 true pass-blocking grade ranked 13th among centers, and that\u2019s likely where he\u2019ll need to improve most. A healthier offensive line around him in 2025 should also help, after Frazier anchored a unit that battled injuries throughout last season.\u201d<\/p>\n

His pass-blocking grade could use some help, but even by PFF\u2019s metrics, he did a great job. They list him with just one sack, two QB hits and 12 pressures allowed. Across a full season of play, those are extremely impressive numbers, especially for a rookie.<\/p>\n

Frazier is part of an offensive line that has plenty of room for growth in the coming years. His draft classmate, Mason McCormick, also had a surprisingly good rookie year at right guard. The Steelers have two young tackles in Broderick Jones and Fautanu on the outside. All things considered, this could become a terrific unit, and Frazier is at the center of it all.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Pittsburgh Steelers used a second-round pick in 2024 on Zach Frazier, a center out of West Virginia.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":40601,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2055],"tags":[6754,7,6,3252,520,57,2360,426,11462],"class_list":{"0":"post-40600","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-pittsburgh-steelers","8":"tag-dalton-wasserman","9":"tag-football","10":"tag-nfl","11":"tag-pff","12":"tag-pittsburgh","13":"tag-pittsburgh-steelers","14":"tag-pittsburghsteelers","15":"tag-steelers","16":"tag-zach-frazier"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40600","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=40600"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40600\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/40601"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40600"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=40600"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=40600"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}