Isaac Seumalo knows the pressure surrounding the Steelers offensive line

If you are like me, you knew what would be the true indicator of the Steelers offense seeing success or failure in 2025. It wasn’t who would be at quarterback, or even the running back the Steelers chose to draft in the 2025 NFL Draft. Instead, it was going to be the offensive line who would pave the way and protect, and that would be if the offense would succeed or fail.

Throughout the preseason the Steelers offensive line play has been hit-or-miss, and plenty of criticism has been thrust the line’s way. They know it’s being said, and they own it, realizing only they can end the narratives of them being a sub-par unit. For veteran guard Isaac Seumalo, he hears what the detractors are saying, and he uses it as a fuel to help the entire unit develop.

“What people are saying is true, it’s not like it’s not true,” Seumalo acknowledged after practice last week. “We are young. We are inexperienced. We do have work to do. At the end of the day we have the tools at QB, at running back and the skill positions. It’s going to come down to the O-line.

“It’s a little weird for me sometimes because I know I’m not necessarily young and inexperienced. But I know my role, and it’s to play at a Pro Bowl level and help guys where I can and lead. You know, I’m not a big speaker, anyway. But In the O-line room I know when it’s appropriate to speak, and to help guys and meet them kind of at eye level, if that makes sense. It’s never me or coaches domineering over players.

“It’s a group effort. We’re all a reflection of each other. The better we all do, the better everybody does.”

For Seumalo, he addresses these situations in a singular way. It’s about self-awareness and realizing both your strengths and weaknesses to help the entire unit improve. For Seumualo individually, he realizes him being more outspoken, more with his teammates, could help be a wealth of knowledge for the young and inexperienced linemates.

“Self-awareness is the biggest thing you can have in terms of football, life, too, but really football, knowing your strengths and weaknesses, what you can work on, what you can’t work on,” he continued. “So I’m never going to be somebody that is unauthentic or comes off as fraudulent. Me working on speaking more, necessarily, in that regard, is not going to come off, I think, as very receptive.

“But me speaking 1-on-1 with the guys, or in the O-line room, or on the field and communicating with ‘Brod’ and Zach, that’s always stuff that I can try to make a priority for myself. But working on stuff that would be unauthentic is not something I’m interested in.”

How does this year’s line look compared to last season? With a year under their belts, it looks vastly different. Seumalo understands how invaluable experience is, but also recognizes how a quarterback like Aaron Rodgers can help the collective line in a multitude of ways.

“I can only speak for the O-line room, but look’s good, a lot of improvement from last year for young guys,” he assessed. “Obviously, having ‘A-Rod’ (quarterback Aaron Rodgers) helps a ton, a future Hall-of-Fame dude, he’s locked into everything.

“Troy and ‘Brod’ have looked really good and Zach, Mason and ‘Spence’ (backup guard Spencer Anderson) have all Improved and look good, too.”

The offense will go as the offensive line goes, and the hope is the Steelers offensive line is more than capable of not just protecting the quarterback, but helping to pave the way in the running game for Jaylen Warren, Kaleb Johnson and Kenneth Gainwell in 2025.

Be sure to stay tuned to SCN for the latest news and notes surrounding the Steelers as they prepare for the New York Jets in Week 1 of the NFL regular season.