The Pittsburgh Steelers invested heavily in their offensive line this offseason, with the team drafting offensive tackle Troy Fautanu, center Zach Frazier and guard Mason McCormick.
While all three have played in the preseason, Frazier has had the best showing of the bunch, which no doubt helped his cause in the competition against Nate Herbig, who was also vying for the center job.
But that competition is now over by default after Herbig suffered a torn rotator cuff that landed him on injured reserve. That fully clears the way for Frazier to start in Week 1.
In a recent article naming the biggest rookie preseason winners at every position, Sports Illustrated's Cory Kinnan named Frazier as his choice at center. Here's what Kinnan wrote on the second-round pick out of West Virginia:
After the season-ending injury to Nate Herbig, second round pick Zach Frazier is stepping into the starting job for the Pittsburgh Steelers. And based on his preseason tape, he is ready for it. Through 42 pass blocking snaps, Frazier has not allowed a single pressure thus far. He has one more dress rehearsal before his actual NFL debut, but Frazier looks as ready as ever for his big moment when Week 1 rolls around.
After a slow start to training camp, Frazier had been gaining momentum leading up to the start of the preseason, and he carried that over into exhibition play. Even if Herbig hadn't gotten hurt, Frazier may have won the job outright.
“Really, I don’t know that any of it has been surprising,” head coach Mike Tomlin said of Frazier's development, per Nick Farabaugh of PennLive.com. “Just the close proximity to Morgantown and the relationships that we have there, he is as advertised. He’s mature beyond his football years. He’s highly competitive, he’s got really good leverage. Obviously, there’s a lot of growth ahead of him, but he’s got a little time to do it, and so we’ll just keep working day by day.”
As far as the other two rookie offensive linemen are concerned, Fautanu is slated to start at right tackle when Week 1 rolls around, assuming he can recover in time from his knee injury, which he is expected to do. McCormick, on the other hand, will start the season as a backup on the interior.
