For fans, draft weekend is tons of fun. The chance to see a slew of rookies come in and help the team. But for players already on the roster, those rookies are a threat. Guys trying to take your job. That’s truest for LT Dan Moore Jr., the team’s starter the last two seasons but is now facing serious competition from first round pick Broderick Jones, now the favorite to protect Kenny Pickett’s blindside.
Pittsburgh Steelers’ GM Omar Khan joined 93.7 The Fan Thursday to discuss Moore’s future role with the team and floated the possibility of playing different spots this summer.
“Dan could play multiple positions,” Khan told hosts Andrew Fillipponi and Chris Mueller. “I believe that.”
Moore was the team’s fourth round pick in the 2021 draft class, part of the team’s Version 1.0 revamp of the offensive line. Now, he’s being pushed by Version 2.0 as the Steelers rebuilt their line this offseason, signing Isaac Seumalo and drafting Jones while adding quality depth with the names of OG Nate Herbig.
Throughout most of his career, Moore has been a left tackle. He played a small number of right tackle snaps early in his Texas A&M before flipping over to the left side, remaining there since. Moore improved as a run blocker, especially the second half of the 2022 season, and he has a profile to fit at guard, but Pittsburgh’s better depth there makes Moore less likely of an option.
Similar to Khan’s comments about slot corner, he said the team will use the rest of the offseason and preseason to figure out exactly how the group will look.
“Our job is to bring as much competition as possible. And then when it all shakes out, I’m confident that the top five offensive linemen will be playing.”
Though I recently wrote Moore will give Jones a better battle than people think, the most likely scenario is Jones will start Week One and Moore will become the team’s swingman as a backup left and right tackle. That’ll give Pittsburgh far more quality depth than they had a year ago when Trent Scott was the #3 tackle or even prior to the draft when Le’Raven Clark appeared to be next-man-up.
Pittsburgh’s offensive line was unusually healthy last season, the only team to have the same five starters for all 17 games, but it was good luck that likely won’t be on their side in 2023. That created added urgency for the Steelers to improve their line, starters and depth, something they accomplished over the past two months.
