Steelers Now
Pittsburgh Steelers offensive line coach Pat Meyer revealed at minicamp last week that center Zach Frazier played through a nagging ankle injury late in the year last season.
“These guys are getting banged up on every play.” Meyer said. “I know down the end, like I think Zach [Frazier] had an ankle for the last four or five weeks. It’s stuff that you’re gonna deal with.”
Frazier suffered an ankle sprain in two places during a game against the Las Vegas Raiders in Week 6. He missed two games, but then returned after the Week 9 bye week. The injury must have lingered, but Frazier is a tough kid. That was displayed throughout his career at West Virginia, especially against Baylor when he bear crawled off the field after suffering a broken leg to avoid a 10-second runoff.
Despite the injury, Frazier still managed to play at a high level late in the year. Frazier, the Steelers’ second-round pick in the 2024 NFL Draft, gave up just one sack and 12 pressures while starting 15 games for the Steelers last season, per Pro Football Focus. His 98.8 pass protection efficiency was second only to Humphrey among centers with at least 1,000 snaps this season.
Frazier was named to the 2024 PFWA All-Rookie Team, the Pro Football Writers Association announced in January.
Pro Football Focus revealed their annual rankings for the center position last week, and Frazier was tabbed as the third-best center in the NFL, behind only Tyler Linderbaum of the Baltimore Ravens and Creed Humphrey of the Kansas City Chiefs.
“The Steelers hit it out of the park when they selected Frazier in the second round of the 2024 NFL Draft. At just 24 years old, he heads into his second year poised to build on an excellent rookie campaign during which he placed fourth in PFF overall grade (77.9) among qualifying centers,” Mason Cameron of PFF wrote.
“Frazier’s all-around grading profile is solid, as he places above the 75th percentile as both a pass protector and a run blocker.”
Alan Saunders contributed reporting from Pittsburgh.
This article originally appeared on Steelers Now: Nagging Injury Revealed for Steelers Star Player
