The Pittsburgh Steelers awarded second-round C Zach Frazier with their Rookie of the Year honor yesterday. It was well-deserved, but also very much expected—perhaps even more so than for their first-round pick. Unlike with Troy Fautanu, there was no practical guarantee he would be a Day-1 starter.
The Steelers obviously didn’t anoint Frazier off the bat, paying lip service to Nate Herbig as a potential starter, but even Herbig knew the writing was on the wall. Even as a second-round pick, Frazier entered his rookie season facing sky-high expectations. While accepting his award yesterday, he explained how he handled that pressure, following the likes of Maurkice Pouncey.