As the Steelers determine their Week 7 quarterback, Justin Fields or Russell Wilson will be taking snaps from a different center. Zach Frazier will become the second Steelers center this season to miss time.
A second-round rookie, Frazier stepped into Pittsburgh’s starting lineup due to Nate Herbig‘s rotator cuff tear in August. Frazier has started the team’s first six games, but an ankle injury will sideline the rookie for a bit. While officially given a week-to-week timetable, Frazier will miss multiple games, per the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette’s Gerry Dulac.
Frazier’s earliest return window looks to be after Pittsburgh’s Week 9 bye. A Week 10 return would allow the Steelers to avoid using an injury activation, as Frazier would miss just two games. An IR placement would knock Frazier out until Week 12, and Dulac did not confirm Frazier would be set to return in Week 10. If Frazier is indeed expected to miss more time following the bye week, the Steelers will assuredly consider placing him on IR this weekend.
This has not been a good year for Steelers O-line health, yet the team has withstood these maladies to start 4-2. Frazier’s injury follows Troy Fautanu‘s more significant setback. The first-round rookie tackle is out for at least the entire regular season, having seen a multi-injury year lead to what may well be a lost season. Fautanu is not out of the picture for the playoffs, though Herbig is on season-ending IR. The Steelers also did not have Isaac Seumalo in their lineup until Week 5. They did not use IR for the left guard, but he still missed four games. To top this off, contract-year right guard James Daniels is out for the season with an Achilles tear.
Among Steelers starters, only Dan Moore Jr. will enter Week 7 having not missed any time this season. Broderick Jones, who has started five games, has also appeared in all six. Frazier’s absence will lead to Ryan McCollum starting, Mike Tomlin said this week. A 2021 Texans UDFA who caught on with the Steelers in 2022, McCollum has played in all six Pittsburgh games this season. The 26-year-old blocker has made one career start — with the Lions three years ago — and did not see any game action in 2022 or ’23.
That’s lousy. Dude already looked like a top ten center as a rookie. I really like what Pittsburgh has done in terms of bringing in offensive line talent, but their injury luck has been brutal this year.
The solution to this banged up O line is play an aging pocket QB who needed 7 weeks to nurse a minor lower body injury because he can throw to all of these talented weapons.
Not sure the Steelers are doing Russell Wilson any favors sticking him behind this OL, especially coming off an injury.