The Pittsburgh Steelers have some decisions to make about their pending free agents over the next couple of weeks. G Isaac Seumalo is one of them, and he’s on our own Josh Carney’s list of the five free agents the Steelers need to re-sign.
However, beat writer Ray Fittipaldo doesn’t anticipate the Steelers re-signing Seumalo. Why? The combination of age and his injury history.
“I just think it’s a long shot for Isaac Seumalo, age 32, missed seven games the last two seasons,” Fittipaldo said Monday on the North Shore Drive podcast. “I just think it’s a long shot that they want to bring him back and roll the dice that he’s going to be able to get through the next couple of seasons.”
The Steelers and Isaac Seumalo are in a tough spot. On one hand, Seumalo has been a really good guard for the Steelers when he’s been on the field. Per Pro Football Focus, he was the fourth-best guard in the NFL last year when it came to pass blocking (78.5 grade). He wasn’t as stellar a run blocker (68.2 grade, 28th), but he still was a top-15 guard per PFF’s grades. That was actually an uptick from 2024, when he was the 24th-graded NFL guard (67.6).
As Carney wrote, “Isaac Seumalo was quietly one of the best players offensively for the Steelers last season.” He’s also the most veteran player on the offensive line by far. He’s the veteran leader on a very young offensive line, which is incredibly important for that unit’s development.
However, Seumalo suffered injuries in recent years, as both Fittipaldo and Carney pointed out. He missed four games in 2024 and three games in 2025. However, his on-field performance has him the fourth-highest interior offensive lineman on FOX Sports’ Top 100 free agent list.
It’s hard to imagine that Seumalo is suddenly going to stop dealing with injuries. Anything is possible, but the combination of age and his injury history is hard to overcome. The Steelers certainly need to think long and hard about whether they’ll want to keep Seumalo and how much money they’d be willing to pay him.
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