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: While rookie OT Broderick Jones continues to improve, Dan Moore Jr. continues to hold his ground. The third-year veteran turned in another solid performance of limited work on Saturday with the first-team offense. Spanning just seven plays, he held his own.
It is growing increasingly apparent that Dan Moore Jr. is going to be the Day-One starter for the Pittsburgh Steelers’ offensive line at left tackle. How long he holds that job with rookie Broderick Jones breathing down his neck is hard to say. It will depend as much on Jones’ development as anything.
The first-team offense saw just seven plays of action on Saturday, even less than in the opener even though the starters played two series instead of one. When one drive is capped off by a 62-yard run and the other begins at the opposing 25-yard line, though, that can happen.
And so the body of work upon which to judge the starters is inherently limited, but Moore held up. There was one pass rep, on the play before Jaylen Warren’s long run, in which he was driven back, but he recovered well, and QB Kenny Pickett had drifted in the other direction for other reasons anyway.
That next play was a highlight for many players, including Moore, who sealed off his defender to help create the running lane. Guards Isaac Seumalo and James Daniels were both crucial as well.
There was only one more play to go after that, the one-play, 25-yard drive, Pickett connecting with TE Pat Freiermuth for the touchdown. The sample size was quite small, but all he had to do was hold serve at this point.
I don’t anticipate the Steelers giving Jones work with the first-team offense in the preseason finale this week, and if they don’t, it’s a virtual lock that Moore will be the starter come September. If the rookie does get some snaps, then at least it can be a part of the conversation, but I can’t conceive of them starting a rookie with no live reps with the starters.
