Player: OL Brock Hoffman
Stock Value: Down
Reasoning: While Brock Hoffman could open the season as a starting offensive lineman for the Steelers, he has plenty of competition. Pittsburgh saw to that in the draft, most directly with the third-round selection of Gennings Dunker. However, the addition of Max Iheanachor gives them even more flexibility. It at least puts moving Troy Fautanu to guard on the table, even if it’s not Plan A.
The signing of Brock Hoffman is perhaps something like the addition of Nate Herbig a few years ago. While he doesn’t have a talented young pass-rushing brother I’m aware of, he is a veteran option to start at guard should they need someone with experience as a spot starter.
But the Steelers may be insulated enough that they don’t need that in the wake of Isaac Seumalo’s departure. While they have no simple veteran starting guard to plug and play, they have a small cache of options. That starts, perhaps, with Spencer Anderson, who has started several games at guard for them. But the most intriguing option is Gennings Dunker, a third-round pick who may put the kibosh on Hoffman’s starting career.
Dunker played tackle in college, but will move to guard at the NFL level. Whether he makes that transition and does it quickly, it’s too hard to say. Some believe the mullet is carrying a lot of the weight behind the adulation of the pick, but he’ll have to, of course, prove himself on the field.
Now, of the Steelers’ options, Brock Hoffman might actually have the most “proven” resume. He has the most time logged at guard in the NFL, and he played for Mike McCarthy before. But there’s also Spencer Anderson, in his fourth year with the Steelers, who has a relationship with the other linemen. There’s the potential to move Troy Fautanu inside. And as I’ve recently reminded, we can’t completely forget that Dylan Cook can play guard, too. The point is, Hoffman is just one of many options. And really, he might be most valuable as depth, because he can also play center.
With the 2025 season behind us and the new league year underway, we still have stock to take. Already promisinga 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 that they ended the season on a higher note and won the division. But it didn’t help.
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