At the 2024 Senior Bowl, Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin has had a close eye on some of the year’s draft class.
The upcoming draft is especially important for the Steelers with pressure mounting for them to start getting results in the playoffs again.
The team has some major areas of need this offseason and it seems a player that could fill one of those needs has impressed the team without being able to fully participate in the Senior Bowl.
According to The Athletic’s Mike DeFabo, a league source said that the Steelers “absolutely love” former West Virginia center Zach Frazier.
Center is one of the team’s biggest needs as they prepare to become a much more run-heavy team under Arthur Smith and Frazier could be a great fit for them after a strong four years in the Big 12.
A Standout at West Virginia
Frazier has been putting his talents on display for the Mountaineers for quite a while.
He immediately became a starter and hasn’t looked back over the past four years.
The standout center earned a spot on the All-Big 12 Second Team as a sophomore.
In 2022, he helped West Virginia’s committee of running backs combine to average 171.5 rushing yards per game and got bumped up to the All-Big 12 First Team as a result.
This past season, the rushing attack got even better. The Mountaineers averaged a staggering 228.9 yards per game on the ground while averaging 5.3 yards per carry. That strong run game helped West Virginia to a 9-4 record.
Frazier once again earned a spot on the All-Big 12 First Team.
He is currently still recovering from a broken fibula he suffered during the team’s win over Baylor in their last regular season game of the year, but that injury doesn’t look like it’s going to hurt his draft stock much.
He is in the mix to be the second center off the board in the 2024 draft and will likely require a round two selection if the Steelers want him on their team.
Steelers’ Other Center Options
Frazier isn’t the only center that impressed at the Senior Bowl.
Jackson Powers-Johnson put on a show over the last few days to potentially earn himself a spot in the draft’s first round.
Powers-Johnson was a star for Oregon during the 2023 season, unanimously earning All-American honors and winning the Rimington Trophy as the nation’s best center.
There had been hope that the Steelers might be able to land him in round two, but that seems unlikely now.
The team could decide that round one is too early to address their need at center when they could possibly land a tackle or corner.
The team also doesn’t necessarily need to wait until the draft to get their next center as there is a solid class of free agents at the position.
Connor Williams had his 2023 season ended early by an ACL injury, but has been very good for the Dolphins over the last two years since making the switch to center.
There weren’t many positives for the Raiders on offense this past season, but Andre James continued to develop during his fourth year in the league and should continue to be a solid starter going forward.
Lloyd Cushenberry III finally started to live up to the promise that led the Broncos to draft in round three back in 2020, putting together the best season of his career in the last year of his rookie deal.
All three of those options have yet to turn 27, which means that while they already have a good amount of NFL experience, they could also be long-term options for the Steelers.
There are plenty of directions the Steelers could take as they look to improve at center, but so far there’s only one that they “absolutely love”.
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Steelers ‘Absolutely Love’ All-Big 12 Offensive Line Prospect: Report