Back on the practice field for the first time ahead of the 2024 season on Day 1 of Organized Team Activities, the Pittsburgh Steelers went back to work with a number of new faces Tuesday at the UPMC Rooney Sports Complex on the South Side.
Those new faces included not only quarterbacks Russell Wilson and Justin Fields but rookies like Troy Fautanu and Zach Frazier and veteran cornerback Donte Jackson, creating quite an exciting environment on the South Side.
Though there is plenty of excitement with the Steelers back to work, it’s also important not to read too much into where players are lined up or what the pecking order appears to be in drills.
Head coach Mike Tomlin reiterated that point Tuesday when asked about a player like Fautanu working at right tackle, second-year pro Broderick Jones working at both left and right tackle, and even guys like Jackson and second-year cornerback Joey Porter Jr. swapping sides at times on the day.
“I’m not overly concerned about it at this juncture. We’re developing skills relative to our position. And so left and right is left less important. Same thing’s going on at the corner. D-Jack [Donte Jackson] and Joey [Porter Jr.] flipped a little bit today,” Tomlin said when asked about where he views certain players, according to video via Steelers.com. “Others flip a little bit. Particularly this time of year, we gotta be open to flipping people to not become one dimensional in terms of right and left so that we give ourselves flexibility to put our best people on the grass when it’s appropriate, but it’s not appropriate right now.
“We are at the infancy of this thing. And so, that’s that.”
Coach Mike Tomlin on Day 1 of OTAs | Pittsburgh Steelers https://t.co/YId9gDrrmx pic.twitter.com/8tw8TLA16a
— Steelers Depot 7⃣ (@Steelersdepot) May 21, 2024
The Steelers are at the infancy of the offseason calendar with Day 1 of OTAs now complete, but it certainly is worth looking at where guys are getting work in at.
After drafting Fautanu in the first round out of Washington, the Steelers stuck him at right tackle during rookie minicamp. He was again working at right tackle on Tuesday during OTAs, but the Steelers also had Broderick Jones still working at right tackle with the first unit and Dan Moore Jr. remaining at left tackle.
That doesn’t mean the Steelers are going to keep Fautanu on the bench and Jones at right tackle, but after comments this offseason that the Steelers wanted to move Jones to left tackle sooner rather than later and viewing Fautanu as a tackle in the NFL, it was a bit curious that the Steelers still rolled out Jones at right tackle early on Tuesday, rather than starting the transition to left tackle immediately.
It might not be a big deal, but it was certainly rather interesting to see Jones remain at right tackle on Tuesday.
Position flexibility and versatility were something that the Steelers targeted in the draft, and they seem to be transitioning more towards position-less football overall, so it’s not a surprise that they are focused on moving guys around and not worrying too much about the true position overall.
We’ll see if it continues later on into OTAs and then mandatory minicamp in June. If it does, it might be time to be concerned. But for now, like Tomlin says, we’re in the infancy of the offseason workouts. There’s a lot that needs to play out before it becomes time to worry about where guys are aligning positionally.
