Editor’s note: From the end of minicamp through the day the team reports to training camp at Saint Vincent College, the Trib will be running through the Pittsburgh Steelers’ 90-man roster, assessing each player’s outlook for the 2023 season. The breakdown will go through the roster in mostly-alphabetical order, (at least) two per day, between June 16 and July 26. Contract data courtesy spotrac.com.
G ISAAC SEUMALO
Experience: 8th season
Contract status: $3.62 million cap hit in 2023, signed through 2025
2023 outlook: It took what seemed like an eternity into free agency (actually just a mere six days) but the Steelers pulled a Saturday night surprise when late on March 18 word broke that they had signed the best free-agent interior offensive lineman on the market with a three-year, $24 million deal. It came after the Steelers had signed Nate Herbig, another interior lineman, to join three returning starters at the guard spots and center.
Seumalo, 29, spent his first seven seasons with the Philadelphia Eagles, the team that had the consensus best offensive line in football last season. Seumalo became a starter in 2018 but he’s missed 24 games since because of injury. Seumalo, however, did not miss any of the Eagles’ 20 games last season — and that includes their Super Bowl LVII loss to the Kansas City Chiefs.
Seumalo was immediately anointed the starting left guard upon arriving in Pittsburgh, taking over for Kevin Dotson. Though Seumalo is thought of as bringing veteran leadership to the Steelers’ offensive line, it was just last year two others who also fit that profile (Mason Cole and James Daniels) were brought in to start at center and left guard, respectively. Still, between his strong track record individually in addition to recent history of winning, Seumalo could potentially be one of the most impactful outside free agents the Steelers have signed in recent memory.
“I don’t know everything (even as a veteran), so I am here to learn, I am here to get better. And if I can help other guys, cool – if not, that’s cool, too. I am here for whatever I can do. I just want to win.”https://t.co/aTDyT1lLZo
— Tribune-Review Sports (@TribSports) May 27, 2023
LS REX SUNAHARA
Experience: No NFL experience
Contract status: $750,000 cap hit if he makes the team in 2023
2023 outlook: The Steelers pulled a mild surprise when they added Sunahara late during the summer via a tryout during veteran minicamp. Incumbent long snapper Christian Kuntz did not have any competition during last year’s camp, and he seemed poised to again run unopposed at Saint Vincent this July and August. But Sunahara must have shown enough during that mid-June week at the UPMC Rooney Sports Complex that he was deemed worthy of a spot on the 90-man camp roster.
The son of the West Virginia women’s volleyball coach, Sunahara was a standout in football and basketball during high school in the greater Cleveland area. He began his college career playing both sports at Rhode Island but transferred to WVU for his second college year. Sunahara (6-6, 242) handled the long snapping duties in both 2018 and 2019 for the Mountaineers, his senior year being honored as a semifinalist for the Patrick Mannelly Award as the nation’s top long snapper. He took part in two college all-star games that winter and spent part of that summer’s training camp with the Miami Dolphins as an undrafted free agent. Sunahara spent two in-season days on the Steelers practice squad during December 2021, and then spent four months on their offseason roster. This past spring, Sunahara played for the XFL team coached by Steelers legend Hines Ward, the San Antonio Brahmas.
There’s no indication the Steelers are unsatisfied with Kuntz or eager to replace him, so Sunahara will both need to show something during camp and likely have Kuntz falter. But Sunahara is probably happy to get the opportunity to finally get some NFL game film during the preseason.
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