Free agent guard Isaac Seumalo signed a 3-year deal worth $24 million with the Pittsburgh Steelers. Jordan Schultz of theScore.com was the first to report.
Seumalo, a former starter for the Philadelphia Eagles, was one of the top offensive guards left in free agency. He joins Nate Herbig as the second offensive lineman Pittsburgh has picked up since the offseason began. He will vie for a spot against last year’s starting left guard, Kevin Dotson, or potentially at right guard for James Daniels’ spot.
Seumalo has played left guard for nearly the entirety of his career, but made a switch to the right side during the Eagles’ Super Bowl run this past season. That versatility on the line is something the Steelers are in need of, and can bounce around wherever he is needed.
He was a third-round draft choice by the Eagles in 2016 out of Oregon State. He has logged 60 career starts over seven seasons in the league, all in Philadelphia. Now, he’ll head across the state to help the Steelers’ offensive efforts in 2023.
What the Steelers are Getting in Isaac Seumalo
Injuries have plagued him over the past few seasons as well. A knee kept him on injured reserve for much of 2020. A Lisfranc injury forced him to miss 14 games the following season, too.
He finally got his health back to where it needed to be this past season and helped lead Philadelphia’s offensive line to a 75 percent run block win rate and a rushing attack to a fifth-place finish in the NFL with 147.6 yards per game on the ground.
Personally, Seumalo’s pass block win rate of 93.6% ranked 15th among all guards in the NFL in 2022, per ESPN’s metrics. His run block win rate ranked 20th. In other words, the Steelers are getting a stud.
More on the 2023 NFL offseason
The NFL 2023 calendar year began at 4 p.m. ET on March 15 when contracts running through 2022 will officially run out. That is when Isaac Seumalo and other players became free agents. Prior to the beginning of free agency, teams will have a chance to designate one franchise or transition tag player. That starts on Feb. 21 at 4 p.m. ET and ended on March 7.
On March 13 through March 15, teams were allowed a legal negotiation with players set to become unrestricted free agents.
In addition to NFL free agency, the new year also marks the beginning of all trades being made official by the league office. April 21 marks the deadline to sign restricted free agents to offer sheets while April 26 marks the deadline for teams to match restricted free agent offers sheets. 722 players are slated to become free agents in 2023.
More on restricted, exclusive rights free agents
Players with only three years of accredited NFL experience become restricted free agents. Their original team will have the option to apply first-round, second-round, original-round, and right-of-fight-of-first-refusal tenders on players at escalating price tags. The higher the round, the more expensive the tender amount.
However, if a separate team does offer a contract and the original team does not match that round pick will be conveyed from the new team to the original team. Right of first refusal only gives a team the option to match or not.
If they don’t match, they get nothing in return. An original-round tender would send a draft pick from whatever round the player was drafted. It would go back to the original team if they chose not to match. The original team will have five days to match once a player signs an offer sheet from a new team.