The injuries the Steelers have suffered across the offensive line this season seem endless. They've lost three starters for the season, played four games without another and will miss a fifth on a week-to-week basis moving forward. It's forced the team to use four different starting offensive lines through the first six weeks of the season and on Sunday, the Steelers will use their fifth.
Mike Tomlin said Tuesday that Zach Frazier is considered week-to-week after suffering an ankle injury against the Raiders and Ryan McCollum, who played 19 snaps this past weekend after Frazier went down, will fill that hole. McCollum has made one start in his NFL career and will make his second against the Jets at Acrisure Stadium.
Last week was the first time this season that Pittsburgh used the same starting offensive line combination for two straight games. With Frazier out, the Steelers will have to continue to develop chemistry along the front five, but McCollum, who will be the ninth different starter on the Steelers' offensive line this season, doesn't think that will be a problem.
"I feel like the communication is good, we've done a good job with swapping guys in and out to make sure we're working with everyone through camp and continue through the season. So, I feel good," McCollum said.
Here are the four other starting offensive line combinations the Steelers have used:
vs. Falcons, Chargers
Dan Moore - Spencer Anderson - Zach Frazier - James Daniels - Broderick Jones
vs. Broncos
Dan Moore - Spencer Anderson - Zach Frazier - James Daniels - Troy Fautanu
vs. Colts
Dan Moore - Mason McCormick - Zach Frazier - James Daniels - Broderick Jones
vs. Cowboys, Raiders
Dan Moore - Isaac Seumalo - Zach Frazier - Mason McCormick - Broderick Jones
Slot McCollum in for Frazier in the last combination and you'll get your fifth.
With so much change across the offensive front and the lack of NFL experience in general -- the Steelers have played three rookies, two second-year players and will play a four-year vet with just one NFL start under his belt this weekend -- there has been a plethora of challenges. Tomlin touched on a few of those Wednesday afternoon.
"There's cohesion challenges, particularly early in game, just being on the same page, the communication component, couple that with a lot of the guys don't have a lot of NFL experience in general. But, I like their mentality, individually and collectively, in terms of how they've approached the challenge and this week will be no different."
To put the Steelers' injury anomaly into better perspective, the team used five different starting offensive line combinations over the past two seasons combined. They used four in 2023 and just one in 2022.
That being said, Seumalo, who missed the first four weeks of the season with a pectoral injury, told me Wednesday afternoon that while injuries don't happen all the time, they are something that offensive lines need to be prepared for.
"I think in the NFL it's not really a matter of if it's a matter of when in terms of the offensive line," Seumalo said. "I think everybody has all the faith in the world in all the guys that are playing. It's unfortunate, it sucks to see guys go down, but you kinda gotta move on. The standard is the standard so we expect everybody to play at a high level regardless of experience and all that stuff. It's kinda just next man up."
Despite the lack of starting experience within the current starting group -- Moore and Seumalo have combined for 134 starts in their career while McCollum, McCormick and Jones have combined for 20 -- the Steelers also have mixed in different combinations of offensive lines during practices and throughout training camp. So, all the players have experience at least practicing with each other. But, it also helps when the group has a unified mindset.
"I think at the end of the day it's blocking guys and protecting the QB, so everybody is kinda on board with that mentality and going out and playing ball," Seumalo said. "We're not worrying too much about stuff you can't control and focusing our attention on things that are in our control."
And that's how they'll approach this weekend against the Jets. Now, who they'll be protecting, well, that's a whole other story.
