PITTSBURGH (AP) — Zach Frazier began his first season with the Pittsburgh Steelers with a problem he’d rarely encountered on the football field up to that point.
The rookie center found himself stuck inside his head a little too much.
“At first I had to kind of really think through things,” Frazier said.
Taking in and synthesizing the sheer tonnage of information he absorbed during those initial months as a pro was a daunting task, at least during the early days of training camp.
Fast forward five months, and things have slowed down considerably for the second-round pick. While Frazier was always expected to become the starter at some point this season, an injury to Nate Herbig on the eve of the regular season sped up the process.
What felt like a somewhat frenetic transition internally never really looked like it externally.
Save for an ankle injury that forced him to miss two games — and led to him somewhat sheepishly puttering around the locker room with a scooter elevating his right leg — Frazier has looked every bit the worthy successor at a position that has been one of strength through the years for the Steelers, from Hall of Famers Mike Webster and Dermontti Dawson to future gold jacket candidate Maurkice Pouncey.
Frazier, who grew up in Fairmont, West Virginia, about 90 miles south of Acrisure Stadium, didn’t need to be educated on the history. He was well-versed in it by the time the Steelers selected him with the 51st overall pick in late April.
Still, he didn’t try to get too ahead of himself. That’s simply not how the 23-year-old goes about his business.
“I don’t really like looking ahead,” he said, mostly he feels “you can kind of get off track” if you don’t pay attention to what’s going on right in front of you.
Early in the season he leaned heavily on veterans Isaac Seumalo and James Daniels for guidance only to have both of them go down with injuries. Seumalo missed a month with a partially torn pectoral and Daniels was lost for the year in September after tearing an Achilles tendon.
Throw in first-round pick Troy Fautanu being limited to a single start because of a season-ending knee injury, and Frazier found himself as the anchor of a line that seemed to be in constant flux. Those issues have faded as the season has worn on thanks to the rapid maturity of Frazier and fellow rookie Mason McCormick.
“It was kind of crazy,” Frazier said. “In the beginning of the year, everyone was dropping with injuries. Unfortunately, it’s just, you know, next man up. … I had to come in. Mason had to step up. And then I feel like we’ve kind of found a groove.”
Still, there’s plenty of fine-tuning to be done ahead of the playoffs. While the Steelers (10-6) locked up a postseason spot weeks ago, they’re also in the middle of a three-game slide heading into a visit from Cincinnati (8-8) on Saturday.
In a way, Frazier’s midseason break because of the ankle injury may be paying dividends at New Year’s. He’s relatively fresh 14 games in, though as he spoke on Tuesday, most of the fingers on his right hand were covered in copious amounts of tape.
And while he only missed two games, it felt much longer for a player who was a fixture in the lineup at West Virginia save for the bowl game after his senior season, which he missed because of a broken leg suffered in the regular-season finale, in which he memorably crawled off the field.
“That was tough on me,” he said. “It’s definitely not a good feeling, being out and not being able to go. But then, you know, once I got back in against Washington, started clicking again.”
The clicks have been intermittent of late. Zoom out, however, and the future of the offensive line could be bright.
Tackle Broderick Jones is finishing up a second year in which he’s improved week by week. Fautanu will be back in 2025. McCormick has flashed a nasty streak that suits him well, with Frazier in the middle of it all. They have endured the tribulations of their rookie seasons side by side and that could pay off down the road.
“It’s just nice to have those guys and, you know, go through together with them,” Frazier said.
NOTES: RB Jaylen Warren (ribs) and Russell Wilson (resting) were limited on Tuesday. … LB Cole Holcomb, who hasn’t played since Week 9 of the 2023 season because of a knee injury, returned to practice on Tuesday but remains on injured reserve.
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