Publicly, he might be the most maligned player on the roster of the Pittsburgh Steelers entering the 2023 season.
Internally, among coaches, teammates and front office personnel, left tackle Dan Moore Jr. is beloved and respected.
Moore has started a possible 33 of 34 games for the Steelers and has played 2, 240 snaps at left tackle in the last two seasons. He has the experience. Even with that experience though, he’s had his struggles. Moore allowed 39 pressures last season, resulting in 22 hurries, 10 quarterback hits and seven sacks. The seven sacks matched his rookie season output from 2021, but according to Pro Football Focus, his pass blocking grade jumped nearly 10 points to 67.3 in 2022.
But despite those struggles and the Steelers going out and moving up in the first round of the 2023 NFL Draft, Moore remains revered and respected within the Steelers organization. Assistant GM Andy Weidl was the latest to throw public support behind Moore.
Speaking with reporters Wednesday, Weidl praised Moore and stated that the Steelers are fortunate to have a piece like Moore in the trenches.
“Dan’s a pro. He’s a great guy. We’re lucky we have him. We’re fortunate we have him. We’re glad we have him,” Weidl said to reporters, according to video via Steelers.com. “You watch him out there, his willingness to share what he’s learned so far in the league with Broderick [Jones] is tremendous. And I think that just speaks for the offensive line room. You see those guys working with each other every day afterwards on the field, whether it’s Dan working with Broderick, you see Isaac [Seumalo] working with the guards, everyone is just trying to get each other better and help each other out.
“And I think that speaks for the chemistry of that room.”
Weidl’s praise of Moore and his willingness to help teach and nurture isn’t all that much of a surprise. Even after the Steelers moved up from No. 17 to No. 14 to select Jones in the first round out of Georgia, Moore had the right attitude and really went to work reshaping his body while also aiming to learn how to play right tackle.
Now in training camp, that work ethic and attitude is something that is catching the attention of teammates and front office personnel, earning him plenty of praise, and rightfully so.
Moore has dealt with some serious criticism in recent years, which hasn’t been all that fair at times. Left tackle is a difficult position to play in Pittsburgh, considering the history at the position and the history of the quarterback position overall in the franchise. Moore has dealt with that criticism and intense scrutiny over the last two seasons.
Throughout his young career, Moore has steadily improved, though it still hasn’t been good enough from the Steelers’ perspective, which led Pittsburgh to go out and trade up for Jones. While he knows the clock is ticking on his starting job in Pittsburgh at left tackle, Moore is going about business the right way, putting his head down, being a great teammate and being open to change overall.
He has the right mentality and the right thought process between the ears. On the field, Moore just needs to clean up his play a bit. After being flagged five times as a rookie, he had nine penalties called against him in 2022. That included four for holding and another four for false starts, so the issues were both pre-and post-snap. The other penalty was for illegal formation. Six of the nine came on the road, including three of the four holds.
While he gets his fair share of criticism publicly for some struggles on the field, Moore is an invaluable member of the offensive line room, both now and moving forward. Though he has the respect from his fellow linemen like right guard James Daniels, that only goes so far in a position battle. Chances are, Jones will eventually surpass Moore for the starting job at left tackle. When that occurs remains to be seen, but he’s not for long at left tackle. Good news is he has the respect of teammates and has shown the willingness to learn right tackle in hopes of being that swing guy and potentially pushing Chukwuma Okorafor next season for the starting job there.
The Steelers certainly are fortunate to have that type of guy in the room.
