When the Pittsburgh Steelers traded up in the first round of the 2023 NFL Draft to select LT Broderick Jones with the 14th overall pick, most fans assumed LT Dan Moore Jr.’s days were numbered.
However, throughout training camp and preseason, Moore has held onto the starting left tackle job. His quality performance has certainly caught the eye of former Steelers offensive lineman Trai Essex. Essex joined Andrew Fillipponi and Chris Mueller of the PM Team on 93.7 The Fan Monday and gave his thoughts on Moore.
“You’ve got to love the way that Dan Moore came in and fought for his position and how he’s performed up to this point,” Essex said. “He’s gotten a lot of flack, the beginning of last year especially… Some things that he needed to work on, lower body strength, his punch at the point of attack, he’s improved on tremendously.”
It’s fair to say Essex knows a thing or two about offensive line play. He played the first seven years of his eight-year NFL career in Pittsburgh, playing in 74 career regular season games with 28 career starts as well as six playoff games. He’s a two-time Super Bowl champion, and even playing for eight seasons in the NFL as a lineman doesn’t happen by accident.
So, when Essex is impressed by Moore’s performance, that’s something to pay attention to. He’s not the only one impressed by Moore during camp and preseason, either. Both head coach Mike Tomlin and offensive coordinator Matt Canada have spoken well about Moore’s growth.
Now that’s not to say that Jones won’t one day supplant Moore as the starting left tackle of the Pittsburgh Steelers. The talent and athletic ability of Jones suggests an incredibly high ceiling that Moore doesn’t appear to have. However, that doesn’t mean that Moore should just roll over and let Jones walk by him. That wouldn’t be very good from an offensive tackle, would it?
Plus, when the time comes for Jones to ascend to the starting left tackle position, Moore and the Steelers coaching staff already seem to have a plan in place. When Pittsburgh took on the Atlanta Falcons in the preseason finale, Moore saw eight snaps at right tackle.
Suffice it to say, whether at left tackle or right, Moore has continued to improve as an offensive lineman and doesn’t plan on leaving the starting lineup anytime soon. If he continues to play the way he has through camp and preseason, he shouldn’t either.
