Now that the Pittsburgh Steelers’ 2023 season is getting underway after the team finished above .500 but failing to make the postseason last year, we turn our attention to the next chapter of Steelers football and everything that entails. One thing that it means is that some stock evaluations are going to start taking on more specific contexts as we get into the season, reflecting more immediate plusses and minus rather than trends over long periods. The nature of the evaluation, whether short-term or long-term, will be noted in the reasoning section below.
Player: T Dan Moore Jr.
Stock Value: Up
Reasoning: Under fire all offseason and put under pressure with the threat of losing his starting job, the third-year veteran has responded as well as could be anticipated. Moore seems very likely at this point to open the regular season where he finished the last one, lining up at left tackle, following a strong training camp and preseason debut that saw him thus far hold off the challenge of 14th-overall pick Broderick Jones.
Many are up in arms over the relative lack of starter reps first-round draft pick Broderick Jones got in training camp. It’s not just fans, by any means. We see radio personalities and even some beat writers expressing similar thoughts.
What they don’t ask is whether Jones has earned those snaps. Generally speaking, I don’t get the impression that the coaching staff has felt at many points since training camp began that Jones has looked like a guy they need to get into the starting lineup right now.
That was never a hard-and-fast plan. If it happened that way, great, but they were prepared to give it time and allow him to develop and let him play when he’s ready. That’s because they already believed in Dan Moore Jr. and trusted that he would respond well to the challenge to his job.
By all accounts, it appears as though he has, with some feeling that he is the most improved player on the roster from a year ago. His third year starting, his second under Pat Meyer as position coach, his first offseason working with QB Kenny Pickett as the starter on a full-time basis, it really shouldn’t be surprising to see him start to put things together.
A 2021 fourth-round pick out of Texas A&M, Moore himself was thrust into a starting role as a rookie when projected starter Zach Banner had a setback in recovery from a knee injury. He was set to enter the year as the swing tackle, but instead, he’s played every down since then for which he was healthy.
He’s had a trial by fire and as a result he’s had to take his lumps and experience his growing pains very much in the public eye. Let’s hope that the same public watches his progress with open eyes as well.
