Coming from a championship background never hurt anybody.
Isaac Seumalo experienced the highest level of football twice in his seven seasons in Philadelphia. He was a key reserve to the Eagles' Super Bowl LII team that took down New England in 2018, as he played in 13 games and started nine that season. He then moved into a full-time starting role in 2019 and started every game he played in as an Eagle from that point until the end of the 2022 season.
That season was capped by an appearance in Super Bowl LVII against Kansas City, as the Eagles stormed through the NFC with a 14-3 record and the No. 1 seed in the conference. Along with that came the rise of quarterback Jalen Hurts, who had the best season of his young career and had serious steam to win the NFL MVP award -- he finished second to Patrick Mahomes -- had he not injured his shoulder in December.
Seumalo has won at the highest level and has blocked for a quarterback playing at the highest level. He now brings that expertise to the Steelers' offensive line room after coming over as a free agent in March. He also brings that expertise to Kenny Pickett, a player who Seumalo noted has some similar qualities in comparison to his former quarterback.
"We go, like every NFL team, you go as the QB does," Seumalo said after Thursday's OTAs on the South Side. "Obviously there’s differences here and there with different teams, but I think he’s a great player, he’s been leading us so far. One of the coolest things is that he also -- I have a lot of respect for Jalen Hurts, too. Shout out to him. Baller, man -- and they both share this aspect of seeing eye-to-eye with everyone on the team regardless of where they come from or how they are. Kenny can talk to anybody at any time, and I think guys respect that.”
At 29 years old, Seumalo is the second-oldest offensive lineman on the Steelers roster to 30-year-old tackle and former Eagle Le'Raven Clark. Seumalo isn't normally used to being in the veteran role as an offensive lineman, as he had five-time All-Pro center Jason Kelce and All-Pro tackle Lane Johnson lining up next to him at every instance.
Those two were anchors of success for the Eagles offense in each of the two Super Bowl runs, and they were able to be the consistent, durable, and cerebral beacons during the organization's transition of Carson Wentz and Nick Foles at quarterback into Hurts. Seumalo was viewed as a part of the succession plan to the 35-year-old Kelce and the 33-year-old Johnson before the Steelers signed him to a three-year, $24 million contract extension over the offseason.
Pickett is beginning Year 2 in the NFL, and he experienced some necessary growing pains from the point he took over as the starting quarterback in Week 4. Pickett might not be at Hurts' level as far as NFL quarterbacks go just yet, but there is one similarity to note about the two and how they entered the league.
Hurts played four seasons of college football. He spent three seasons at Alabama before transferring to Oklahoma for his final season in 2019. Hurts finished second in Heisman Trophy voting to Joe Burrow in 2019, as LSU's offense had a season for the ages en route to a national championship. Pickett played five seasons at Pitt and finished third in the 2021 Heisman Trophy balloting to Bryce Young, the No. 1 overall pick in this past draft.
Hurts entered the NFL as a 21-year-old. Pickett was drafted when he was 23. That maturity plays a factor.
“I think we all know that age doesn’t always necessarily mean maturity, but in this case it does," Seumalo said. "Just the way -- being a professional there’s a way that you go about your work and how locked in you are here and when it’s time to chill, it’s time to chill -- but when it’s time to lock in it’s time to lock in, and Kenny does that well. We’ve got the weapons to throw to and we’ve got the guys up front, guys carrying the ball. As much as we can help him, we make each other look good, he makes all of us look good, so it’s been good so far.”
Last week, Kelce had nothing but high praises to give for his former guard. He went as far as to note Seumalo is an irreplaceable asset for the defending NFC champion.
“Isaac is a really, really special player," Kelce said. "I know we’ve said that here for a long time, and I still don’t think people really truly grasped what he did for our room. Me, personally, I think he’s probably the smartest player I’ve ever been around. Really, really gifted physically, mentally, across the board. I think the Steelers are getting a steal -- that’s a good pun, I guess. I think he’s one of the best guards in the NFL, and I think he has been. I think he’s one of the most consistent players I’ve ever been around and most consistent people I’ve ever been around. We’re not going to replace Isaac, really. It’s going to be somebody new in there and they’re going to have their attributes that they’re going to excel with.”
Steelers assistant general manager Andy Weidl and scouting coordinator Casey Weidl had prior connections with Seumalo, as Andy became the Eagles' assistant director of player personnel not long after Seumalo was drafted by Philadelphia in the third round in 2016, and Casey was the Eagles' director of scouting operations from 2019-'21. Those connections proved to be strong enough to lure Seumalo over to the other side of Pennsylvania over the offseason as part of the Steelers' plan to bring back physicality and, as Andy said after the draft, "our kind of guys."
Just from watching Seumalo over the course of three practices, he is already looking like one of the Steelers' kinds of guys. He has been embraced, as he noted, as such.
“It’s a family," Seumalo said. "I mean, it’s been run by the Rooneys for a long time, and they kind of embrace that. Guys reached out when I signed and it’s cool. I’ve had nothing but warm welcomes from everyone on the team and the offices. Talking to Andy and Casey Weidl, too, was big. Definitely like a family. Everybody wants to win, everybody’s hungry to win, so I’m happy about that, too.”
Now, Seumalo will have Mason Cole as his center, as he makes a transition over to left guard in an effort to keep James Daniels at right guard for the Steelers. That is nothing new to Seumalo, as he confirmed the move back over to the left side, as he noted the transition back over and while working alongside Cole has gone smoothly.
"Kelce's Kelce, and not only is he such a great player, but a great teammate, a great friend of mine," Seumalo said. "He says a lot of nice things about me which is cool. I don't know how much of it is warranted but I can always appreciate it. But, Mason, I think, is a very good player. Smart. At center you need a guy that is not just smart but can vocalize that to everybody and see everybody's perspective on each play and how that operates. It's been a good transition."
Daniels, who has proven as a durable and effective pass-blocking right guard, has already picked Seumalo's brain.
"He's a really good dude," Daniels said. "I've asked him so many questions about football and it's kind of funny, I know he thinks I'm annoying, too, because I always ask him in-depth, deep football questions and stuff, but he always answers them. It just gives me a different perspective on how you see football."
Seumalo sees football in such a way because he has won at the highest level. As the Steelers focus on building, as Pat Freiermuth told me earlier in the week, a "winning offense," Seumalo will serve as a primary anchor to keeping Pickett upright and allowing for Najee Harris to break through on runs.
“I think it always starts with the culture and the building of that, and then kind of changing each year because you get a new team, players, whatnot," Seumalo said. "Obviously there’s older guys that have proven themselves here, especially defensively. I think offensively we’ve got a lot of weapons and with all teams I think it starts inside in the trenches, so the better we can be, the better the team can be. We can keep as many -- keep 8 and 22 healthy and let them do what they do -- I think we’ll be in good shape.”
