It was a tad bit more than 20 months ago that Troy Fautanu, Zach Frazier and Mason McCormick were drafted by the Pittsburgh Steelers.
“We were actually just talking about it out the other day,” Frazier said after Thursday’s practice. “It’s just flown by. Like, it feels like we just got here.”
You probably couldn’t judge it by the trio’s play. The right side of the Steelers offensive line — manned by these three second-year players — has the look of a veteran unit that’s seemingly been together for a decade or more.
From center out to right tackle, the group of Frazier, McCormick and Fautanu has been as reliable and steady as any part of the 2025 Steelers.
“It’s been awesome being able to come into the league with those two (Frazier and Fautanu) and growing together next to each other,” McCormick said. “I get the privilege to play next to two of the best, and they make me a lot better.
“They’re awesome people, too. It’s so much fun playing next to them. It’s been a blast, and we’re going to continue to grow together and continue to get better.”
The group is already pretty good. McCormick and Fautanu are the only Steelers players yet to miss a snap this season on offense or defense. Frazier has the next-highest offensive or defensive snap-played rate on the team at 99.5%. So between the three, they have missed five snaps, all by Frazier.
Left guard has been manned by three players (mostly Isaac Seumalo) and left tackle four players (three of whom have started). And while the veteran Seumalo in particular has had a strong season, the rocks of the 2025 Steelers’ offensive line have been the players they took in the first (Fautanu), second (Frazier) and fourth (McCormick) rounds of the 2024 draft.
“Those guys are balling right now,” running back Kenneth Gainwell said. “I see them growing a lot.”
Gainwell complimented McCormick’s communication, Fautanu’s toughness and Frazier’s ability to serve as “the QB of the line.”
Teamed with the likes of Seumalo, versatile reserve Spencer Anderson and current starting left tackle Dylan Cook, the trio of young linemen have helped pace the Steelers to their best average yards per carry (4.3) since 2016. The 29 sacks the Steelers have allowed are the ninth-fewest in the NFL and on pace for what would be the Steelers’ lowest season total in six years.
“What helps us on the field is the bond that we have off the field,” said Fautanu, who missed all but one game of his rookie season because of injury. “Being able to communicate is key, and the communication that comes out (via) Mason to me, I feel like it’s continuing to grow.
“The more we can do that every week, I really feel like we can be elite. I believe that. I have all confidence in those two guys.”
Frazier rates as the seventh-best center in the NFL via Pro Football Focus grading. McCormick is 12th among the league’s full-season starting right guards and Fautanu 14th among right tackles.
As a group (which of course includes the left guards and left tackles), the Steelers rank fourth in the ESPN metric pass-block win rate and 11th in run-block win rate. PFF grading slots the Steelers as fifth in the league in pass blocking and 17th in run blocking.
Coupled with signing Seumalo in free agency in March 2023 and drafting tackle Broderick Jones and Anderson six weeks later, that the Steelers spent three top-half-of-the-draft picks on offensive linemen in the 2024 draft showed their commitment to investing in building a high-level offensive line that could endure for the long haul.
Less than two years into their respective careers, the group of Fautanu, McCormick and Frazier have the look of a threesome destined to be penciled into the right side of the Steelers offensive line through at least the end of the current decade.
“We want to play together here in Pittsburgh for a long time to come,” Frazier said. “So that’s what we’re working towards. And that’s the goal.”