There’s a lot of talent on the Pittsburgh Steelers’ offense. In order for everything to work together, though, a lot of young position groups need to step up. That starts with the offensive line, which has plenty of potential. However, CBS Sports’ Mike Renner still thinks the unit has the most to prove of any offensive line in the NFL.
“This offensive line has probably the most question marks of any offensive line in the NFL,” Renner said on the Pushing The Pile podcast on Tuesday. “You have a guy playing left tackle in Broderick Jones, who hasn’t played left tackle since college. You have a guy playing right tackle, who’s played one game in his career in Troy Fautanu.”
Broderick Jones has played some left tackle for the Steelers, but they haven’t done a great job of keeping him in one spot consistently. That will change this year with Troy Fautanu back at right tackle. Renner isn’t wrong that there’s a real lack of experience overall. Jones is still looking to prove himself heading into his third year, and Fautanu has just one game under his belt.
The Steelers’ offensive line has some consistent pieces in Zach Frazier at center and Isaac Seumalo at left guard. Renner hands them some credit, but still thinks the rest of the unit could really hurt the offense this year.
“You basically have your left guard and your center to hang your hat on,” Renner said. “The rest is like, we’ll see how it goes, at this point. So you got the wildly inexperienced offensive line, one wide receiver, it could be a crash and burn year offensively for the Pittsburgh Steelers.”
Seumalo is the only veteran on the unit, and Frazier is coming off a nice rookie season. But there is reason to believe in the line being better than Renner expects. Jones could make some strides, now finally finding a home. Fautanu looked good in his one game last year, and is impressing this preseason. Even Mason McCormick provided some stability when the Steelers really needed it last year.
This line certainly does need to prove itself still. They won’t start getting that respect from analysts until they do. But the Steelers are confident in their group. If the entire unit starts to reach its full potential, it could develop into one of the strengths on the roster.
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