Entering his 21st season as an NFL offensive line coach and first with the Steelers, James Campen has been around long enough to recognize what he has to work with initially and to understand it'll be about performance and not pedigree eventually.
"Oh, it's a tremendous opportunity, sure," Campen acknowledged. "They invested a lot of draft capital into it and all those things are pluses. But they're only pluses on paper if it comes to fruition, in my opinion. That's our job as line coaches, to get those players to play at a high level.
"But, you know, I've also come from, maybe it's old school or not, but really, whoever has the helmet out there, I mean, there's a job requirement for the center, the right guard and left, the right tackle and so fourth. And whoever fills those roles when the gun goes off and we're playing real games, whoever's there is there. As far as draft status or free agent and how that goes, fortunately for me I don't have to concern myself with that."
The draft capital Campen referenced has been on display in the early going at OTAs.
The first unit up front has included left tackle Troy Fautanu (first round, 2024), left guard Mason McCormick (fourth round, 2024), and center Zach Frazier (second round, 2024).
But the initial starting five has also been comprised, in part, by right guard Spencer Anderson (seventh round, 2023) and right tackle Dylan Cook (undrafted coming out of Montana in 2022 before catching on with Tampa Bay and, eventually, the Steelers).
It's about identifying and developing the best five regardless of alignment, not the five with the highest profiles or the most history at a particular position.
Fautanu was the right tackle last season and Cook took over at left tackle in the wake of Broderick Jones (first round, 2023) being lost for the season to a neck injury after 11 games.
McCormick played right guard the past two seasons.
When it comes to tackle, Fautanu is apparently ambidextrous.
"I saw it when he was in college," Campen said. "He was a left tackle in college. The thing with him, he naturally goes over there and just starts using his left sets and those kind of things. Sometimes as coaches we take that for granted. At times you just say, 'Well, just go there and put your left hand down.' Well, try writing left-handed if you're right-handed. It's not as easy as you think.
"The fact that he was able to do that, and we're just seeing how it goes over there for right now but that is a big plus."
The Steelers also invested a first-round pick in tackle Max Iheanachor and a third-round selection in Gennings Dunker, a tackle in college who is converting to guard in the NFL.
And their haul in free agency included veteran interior offensive lineman Brock Hoffman, so there remains much for Campen and assistant offensive line coach Jahri Evans to sort out up front.
That process is being facilitated by the participation and enthusiasm Campen is seeing in OTAs.
"It's big, it really is," he said. "We use the term 'huge' and all that, it doesn't define everything. But It allows you to take other steps and to see how players can adapt to each other and to the system. So it is big.
"They're very athletic, young group. It's a good group. They're very eager to learn. They don't shy away from new techniques or trying to do different things. I think that's a big plus for them."
