How Zach Frazier is Becoming a Leader of Steelers’ Offense

PITTSBURGH — The third week of Pittsburgh Steelers OTAs at UPMC Rooney Sports Complex was missing most of the team’s most-well-known players. But West Virginia product Zach Frazier was out there in his new role as a leader on the offense.

That was largely by design. The Steelers switched up their schedule this year under Mike McCarthy, putting the mandatory minicamp in between the first two weeks of voluntary OTAs and the final one.

The implication was clear. With almost a completely new coaching staff, it was important for the Steelers to get their veteran players together at voluntary OTAs. Veteran players aren’t likely to show up for all 10. And it doesn’t do much good for the Steelers if say, Aaron Rodgers comes one week, and then Michael Pittman comes the next. It’s important for those players to not just come and get instruction from the new coaching staff, but also to do it together, to build chemistry and cohesiveness.

So the plan was for the first to weeks to be a fairly representative squad, have everyone in town for minicamp, and then the third week to largely be a showcase and opportunity for the team’s younger players.

That was the plan, but it was still a bit jarring to see the Steelers’ first-team offense take the field, with the most-veteran player on the unit being third-year center.

Certainly, the Steelers have plenty of veteran presences on their offense. Rodgers, chiefly. But Pittman, DK Metcalf, Pat Freiermuth and Rico Dowdle are all also long-tenured NFL players with a variety of experience.

But it’s not that hard to see what’s happening when it comes to the future of the Pittsburgh offense. This is a team that is going to be led by its offensive line, and while there are certainly several candidates to become one of the team’s leaders from the offensive line, the center position has some leadership qualities built into it.

Frazier is the one that is responsible for getting the checks right and making sure everyone is on the same page about what adjustments they’re making at the line of scrimmage. Last year, he was correcting Rodgers on those things while the veteran was getting used to the Steelers offense, so it’s clear he doesn’t have a problem speaking up.

When the Steelers were a dominant offense in the latter part of the 2010s, Ben Roethlisberger, Le’Veon Bell and Antonio Brown were the stars, but guys like David DeCastro, Maurkice Pouncey, Alejandro Villanueva and Ramon Foster were the leaders.

Frazier isn’t necessarily the most naturally outgoing guy. But he was a leader at West Virginia, and you can see him developing into the same thing here in Pittsburgh.

“I think going into my third year, I feel comfortable,” Frazier said to Steelers Now. “I feel confident in my play style, so yeah, definitely.”

Like I said, not necessarily the world’s biggest ra-ra talker. But watching practice this week, especially without the vets around, it was pretty clear that Frazier was the guy that was making things happen for the Steelers offense.

That’s a pretty good sign for the future direction of the unit.

54 • Zach Frazier, Center, West Virginia
6-foot-3, 310 pounds, 24 years old, 3rd pro season

Acquired: The Steelers drafted Frazier with the 51st overall pick in the second round of the 2024 NFL Draft. Frazier was the first Mountaineer to be drafted by the Steelers since the team selected Woodland Hills alum Ryan Mundy in the sixth round of the 2008 NFL Draft.

Last year: Frazier entered 2025 as an established starter, starting all 17 games for the first time in his career and setting a career high with 1,026 snaps played.

He allowed 11 total pressures and one sack in 673 pass-block reps, for a 99.1% pass-rush efficiency, per PFF, which ranked him second in the NFL among centers, behind only Creed Humphrey of the Kansas City Chiefs.

Pro career: Frazier entered the NFL in competition with Nate Herbig for the Steelers’ starting center job during his first training camp. After Herbig suffered a season-ending injury late in camp, Frazier took the starting job and made his pro debut as a Week 1 starter.

Frazier missed two weeks a rookie with an ankle injury, finishing the year with 15 regular-season starts, as well as his first postseason experience in a playoff loss to the Baltimore Ravens. Frazier was selected to the PFWA All-Rookie Team and earned the Joe Greene Great Performance Award as the Steelers’ rookie of the year.

Frazier, a West Virginia native, played his collegiate ball for the Mountaineers. He arrived on campus in 2020 which was the COVID-shortened season. Frazier started nine of his 10 appearances at left guard as a true freshman. He was the first true freshman to start on the Mountaineers offensive line since 1980.

Following the season, the committees named Frazier to the watchlist of many awards including being a William V. Campbell Trophy Finalist, a Wuerffel Trophy Semifinalist and a Jason Witten Man of the Year Semifinalist. Additionally, he earned All-American honors for the second time of collegiate career.

In total, Frazier started 46 of his 47 appearances for the Mountaineers. In his four years on campus, Frazier played over 3,200 offensive snaps and allowed just four sacks. He was a two-time All-American and three-time team captain.

Due to his success, Frazier earned invites to the Reese’s Senior Bowl and the NFL Combine, though a broken leg in his final collegiate game did not allow him to participate.

Adam Borst also contributed to this story that initially appeared on our partner Steelers Now.

Find more coverage of Zach Frazier at WV Sports Now.