Zach Frazier literally crawled off the field with a broken leg last season at West Virginia, so to see him on the ground in pain during Pittsburgh’s Week 6 win over the Las Vegas Raiders was a little bit jarring. Frazier suffered an apparent ankle injury in the third quarter, and while he wanted to return to the game and was taking practice snaps, the medical staff wanted to further evaluate him in the locker room and he never returned. We don’t know the nature of Frazier’s injury, but he’s such an important piece to Pittsburgh’s offensive line, and losing him on a line that’s already very banged up would be a brutal loss for the Steelers.

On the KDKA Nightly Sports Call, former Steelers defensive lineman and current analyst Chris Hoke talked about Frazier’s impact on the Steelers.

“To me, he’s the best offensive lineman for the Steelers right now. He’s just such a stud in the middle of that line, coming off the ball, getting his hands on people and driving. Where was he at when he got hurt? He had his defender three yards down the field, second level, driving someone. He plays to the whistle every single play. Zach Frazier is a guy who should have been a first-round pick. He’s going to be a Pro Bowl, maybe All-Pro player, if not this year, next year because he’s just so good and reliable,” Hoke said.

Frazier has been playing like one of the best centers in the NFL regardless of experience, and has been one of the best rookies this year. Pittsburgh’s interior offensive line is already banged up with James Daniels out for the season due to a torn Achilles. Losing their starting center for an extended period of time, or really any period of time, would be a huge blow for the Steelers. The schedule gets a lot more difficult after their Week 9 bye, and taking care of business the next two weeks against the New York Jets and New York Giants is paramount for the Steelers to put themselves in position to make the playoffs.

Not having Frazier available for one or both of those games would really hurt Pittsburgh’s offense, and we might see a lot more runs to the outside. Najee Harris is coming off his best game of the season, and it’ll help him keep the momentum going if the offensive line can be as healthy as possible. Hopefully, the injury to Frazier isn’t serious, although it didn’t look great with him getting rolled up on by DE Tyree Wilson. Looks can be deceiving, though, and it was at least a positive takeaway that Frazier felt he could return and was able to walk to the locker room under his own power.

We’ll likely find out in the coming days just how serious Frazier’s injury is, but fingers crossed he’ll be able to play this weekend and keep the Steelers offense rolling.