Steelers May Have To Rethink A Risky Offensive Line Move After Ugly Start

The Pittsburgh Steelers spent the offseason rearranging an offensive line that had finally shown signs of becoming a strength. The logic was understandable: find the best five players, put them in the spots that maximize the entire group and trust familiarity from college to smooth over any positional changes. Two regular-season games have made that plan look considerably less tidy. After Pittsburgh was physically handled in Foxborough, one former NFL executive is wondering whether one piece of the shuffle simply worked better where it started.

Doug Whaley believes Mason McCormick may ultimately be a better fit at right guard than the left-side position Pittsburgh moved him to this offseason. Whaley did not blame Troy Fautanu's struggles entirely on switching to left tackle because Fautanu played there at Washington. McCormick's move, however, gave him more pause.

During a recent appearance on 93.7 The Fan, Whaley questioned whether Pittsburgh disrupted something that had already worked.

“He played left tackle in college, so it’s not something that is foreign to him. And you would think it would be a little more natural to move back to the position that he really set himself up to be drafted in the first round playing… McCormick, maybe McCormick’s just better on the right,” Whaley said.

That possibility matters because McCormick has considerably more NFL evidence on the right side than the left. He took over at right guard as a rookie after an injury to James Daniels and started 14 games in 2024. He then started all 17 games there in 2025 beside Fautanu at right tackle. Pittsburgh's offensive line finished tied for ninth in fewest sacks allowed last season and surrendered the second-fewest quarterback hits in the league. Then Pittsburgh broke up the pairing.

Fautanu moved to left tackle this spring, and McCormick followed him to left guard. Spencer Anderson moved into the first-team right guard spot, while Dylan Cook took over at right tackle. The Steelers made the change early enough that it never felt temporary; Fautanu and McCormick opened OTAs on the left and remained there through training camp.

The reasoning was not reckless. McCormick played left guard in college and even made one NFL start there as a rookie. Pittsburgh wanted Fautanu protecting Rodgers' blind side, and keeping McCormick beside him preserved a pairing that had already worked together. Offensive Line Coach James Campen has repeatedly emphasized finding the best five rather than locking players into a position simply because of their previous history. The first two weeks have made “best five” harder to identify.

Pittsburgh followed a shaky opener against Atlanta with an uglier performance in its 20-3 loss to the New England Patriots. The Steelers allowed four sacks, struggled with communication against pressure and never established consistent control at the line of scrimmage. Whaley's larger criticism was that the entire front looked like a unit that had been punched in the mouth and needed to rediscover some nastiness.

Moving McCormick back to the right would not magically repair five positions. It would also create another question at left guard, where Pittsburgh currently lists rookie Gennings Dunker behind McCormick. Anderson is the starter on the right with Brock Hoffman behind him, so any reshuffle creates consequences beyond simply asking McCormick to change his stance and walk across the center. Still, Whaley's idea is worth considering because Pittsburgh already knows what McCormick looked like on that side.

He and Fautanu were a young right-side pairing the organization spent much of 2025 celebrating. Both started every regular-season game and tied for the team lead with 988 offensive snaps. McCormick has played 34 regular-season games over his first two NFL seasons, starting 31, while committing only three penalties in 1,892 offensive snaps. That résumé makes him a strange player to suddenly have Pittsburgh questioning where he fits best.

The Steelers previously acknowledged the uncertainty created by their offensive-line changes. The intention was to create the strongest overall combination. September's responsibility is determining whether the experiment is actually producing one.

Steelers Cannot Protect The Plan Just Because It Made Sense In May

Two bad games should not trigger five new starters and another month of musical chairs. Offensive lines need continuity, and Pittsburgh has already been criticized for spending too much of the summer moving pieces around instead of allowing one combination to settle.

That makes the decision delicate. The Steelers cannot preach patience with the current five forever if the physicality and communication remain poor, but another shuffle only helps if the new alignment is clearly better.

McCormick offers one intriguing possibility because returning him to the right would not be asking him to learn something new. It would be putting him back where the overwhelming majority of his NFL starts have come and where he already produced a full season beside Fautanu.

Of course, moving him would separate that pairing anyway unless Pittsburgh abandoned Fautanu's left-tackle experiment too, something Whaley was far less convinced was necessary. Fautanu spent his college career on the left. McCormick may simply be the player whose NFL comfort has become more position-specific than Pittsburgh anticipated.

That distinction could matter as Mike McCarthy searches for answers after an embarrassing Week 2 performance.

Pittsburgh moved McCormick because it believed the change would improve its best five. If Whaley is right, fixing the line may require admitting one of those five was already standing on the correct side.

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