The Pittsburgh Steelers are bolstering their offensive line by signing former Eagles guard Isaac Seumalo, according to NFL Media. It's a three-year deal for Seumalo worth a reported $24 million.
The 29-year-old had spent the first seven seasons of his career in Philadelphia after the Eagles selected him in the third round of the 2016 NFL Draft out of Oregon State. Similar to fellow Steelers free agent signee Nate Herbig, Seumalo has a connection to the Pittsburgh front office with assistant GM Andy Weidl, who had previously served in the Eagles front office.
Seumalo has shown the ability to play both left and right guard, and will likely battle for one of those starting spots. After primarily playing on the side throughout the early stages of his career, he did switch to right guard last season and started all 17 regular season games there for Philadelphia along with the team's three playoff matchups, including Super Bowl LVIII. In 1,135 offensive snaps, Seumalo allowed just one sack and received a 75.2 overall grade from Pro Football Focus. For reference, that grade was better than any of Pittsburgh's primary linemen last season.
That puts him in a position to be a full-time starter along this offensive line, but now it's a matter of where he'll ultimately be slotted in. Given his versatility, it'll be interesting to see if the Steelers put him at left guard over third-year lineman Kevin Dotson or at right guard and edge out James Daniels.
2022 was a nice rebound for Seumalo after injury-filled seasons in the prior two campaigns. In 2020, he was limited to nine games after starting the year on IR, and then played just three games in 2021 due to a Lisfranc injury he suffered in Week 3 that year. Now, he's looking to build off that positive momentum of 2022 with a brand new contract and a brand new club, albeit while staying within state lines.
Seumalo was the No. 27 ranked player on Pete Prisco's top 100 free agents list.
