Steelers enter training camp with a youthful offensive line core led by Fautanu and Frazier

The Steelers’ offensive line story entering the 2026 season is about transition, not replacement. In their pre-camp position preview, the team highlighted a young core that, while still growing, already includes multiple players in the middle stages of early-career development. The unit, ranked from left to right, is built around second-year-plus talent and is set to get its first full camp look under new offensive line coach James Campen.

Campen, who has been in the NFL coaching ranks since 2004, brings experience from past stints that included assembling some of the league’s best offensive lines during his 15 seasons with Green Bay. Pittsburgh’s decision to make Campen the point person for technique and cohesion puts a premium on how quickly a group with several “in-progress” pieces can find consistency as camp practices begin.

The Steelers’ coaching staff framed Troy Fautanu and Zach Frazier as central to that timeline. Fautanu, the team’s first-round pick two years ago, was described as having started every game at right tackle a year ago, and the preview indicates he could be in line to start at left tackle this summer. Frazier, drafted in the second round two years ago, is also presented as a foundational piece, with the team pointing to his age and place in the development arc as his career enters its next phase.

Mason McCormick, a fourth-round pick in the same draft class as Frazier, is another key reference point in the Steelers’ age structure. The preview placed all three of those early draft picks, along with Broderick Jones, into a similar category of homegrown talent that has already moved beyond “rookie-only” status. Jones, selected a season before Frazier and Fautanu, was noted as having recently turned 25, underscoring that the Steelers are not simply hoping to develop prospects. They are, instead, trying to accelerate players who have already logged meaningful learning time.

Pittsburgh also emphasized how the depth chart is affected by age and competition. The team listed a mix of younger linemen and what it called the “elder statesmen” of the group. Dylan Cook, Spencer Anderson, Brock Hoffman, and Ryan McCollum were grouped as the more experienced end of the rotation, all at 28 or younger in the team’s preview, while Jack Driscoll was singled out as the oldest lineman competing for a spot at 29.

Campen’s arrival raises the internal stakes of that competition. Offensive line play is often about communication and repeated reps, and the Steelers’ preview posed the larger question as whether the unit can move from work-in-progress to one of the league’s best. The practical challenge for camp will be determining how the young starters and the competing alternatives fit together under a single coaching philosophy, particularly when roles could shift across the line.

In addition to Fautanu, Frazier, McCormick, and Jones, the preview included other names that shape how camp battles could unfold. Among the group listed are Max Iheanachor and Gennings Dunker as first- and third-round picks from this year’s class, as well as players such as Greg Crippen, Jack Driscoll, Driscoll, Doug Nester, Lorenzo Thompson, and others who will compete for responsibilities beyond the first five. With training camp set to begin at Saint Vincent College on July 28, the first two weeks of practice will likely clarify whether the Steelers can quickly turn that talent into stable lineup play.

For fans, the key watch is not only who earns starting spots, but how quickly the line creates the kind of continuity that allows quarterbacks to operate without hesitation and backs to run with less resistance at the point of attack. If Fautanu’s projected left-tackle candidacy takes hold and the younger linemen perform with the consistency the team implied it wants, the Steelers’ “level-up” could begin earlier than many would expect from a unit with this much youth. Either way, camp at Saint Vincent should quickly reveal the direction the offense is leaning toward as 2026 approaches.