Steelers Add Depth at Center After Rookie Minicamp; Offensive Line Clarity Unlikely to Move Markets

The Steelers signed center Greg Crippen after a weekend tryout and waived offensive lineman Sataoa Laumea in a corresponding roster move following their rookie minicamp. Per NBC Sports, Crippen started all 13 games for Michigan last season and logged 41 appearances across his entire college tenure, making him a proven, if undrafted, option for depth rotation. Laumea, a sixth-round pick by the Seahawks in 2024 who started six games as a rookie before bouncing through the Saints' practice squad, heads back onto the waiver wire.

The transaction is purely a depth play with zero impact on the Steelers' starting five. Zach Frazier remains entrenched at center, and Ryan McCollum holds the backup spot. Neither Crippen nor Laumea was ever in the conversation for significant snaps during the regular season—this is organizational housekeeping during the offseason calendar when rosters expand and contract with each minicamp cycle. Crippen's college pedigree (13 straight starts, a full three-year sample) gives Pittsburgh a marginally safer developmental option than Laumea's journeyman profile, but the actual football impact is negligible.

What matters for Pittsburgh's passing game—the engine that drives team totals and quarterback prop lines—is the health and continuity of Frazier, guard James Harrison Jr., and tackles Dan Moore Jr. and Broderick Jones. Crippen's arrival changes none of that. The Steelers' offensive line quality will be determined by the starters, not a fourth-string center who is competing for practice-squad roster spots against other sub-roster talent.

Bettors tracking Pittsburgh's pass protection outlook and Russell Wilson's throwing prop ceilings should pay zero attention to this swap. It's the offensive line equivalent of a reserve linebacker signing—a rotational move that satisfies front-office depth requirements but exerts no gravitational pull on game-day performance or weekly output metrics. The Steelers' pass-game infrastructure looks the same before and after this transaction.

Depth signings like Crippen's are a routine part of spring roster management and carry no predictive weight for season-long passing or rushing totals. Don't adjust your prop models. This changes nothing.