Credit to Dan Moore Jr. He worked his butt off this summer, improved his game, and seems all but guaranteed to remain the Pittsburgh Steelers’ starting left tackle. And what does he win for his efforts?
Well, he might have to move to right tackle anyway.
That was always the messy part if Moore won the job. If Broderick Jones had been named the starter, things would’ve been easier. Jones is the starter, Moore the swing tackle backup. But out of the gate, Moore is the best man for the job and Pittsburgh’s making the right call. It just makes things a little interesting when it comes to painting a picture of the depth chart. Jones will of course step in if Moore is dinged but what happens if starting RT Chukwuma Okorafor goes down?
Normally, the backup tackle is the swing guy. That’s what Trent Scott was last season, in theory anyway, and thankfully Pittsburgh basically never had to see it in action. Most teams are looking for the third tackle to be a versatile veteran who can play left or right tackle should either starter go down.
But Jones isn’t that guy. Throughout the entire summer, all 16 training camp practices and three preseason games, he didn’t log a single snap on the right side. It’s not a bad decision by the team. Jones is a young guy without much college experience, only 19 career starts at Georgia, and needed as many left tackle reps as possible to evaluate him and the position battle. It wouldn’t have been helpful to make him flip sides and put that on his plate.
Still, he’s unlikely to be the team’s Plan B if Okorafor goes down Week One. Pittsburgh’s other options aren’t more appealing. Assuming the eight who will dress on gameday include the starting five, Jones, Nate Herbig, and rookie Spencer Anderson, Moore still makes the most sense. Herbig has actually started a game at right tackle before — once during his Stanford career — and Anderson has played a fair amount of time there, including this season, but neither seem like first-man up options. Herbig hasn’t played right tackle in years and asking a seventh-round rookie to step in, it’s not the team’s first choice, even if Anderson has impressed.
In some ways, the Steelers have prepared for this possibility. Or this inevitability. Sprinkled in throughout camp, the team did give Moore a handful of right tackle reps, call it 25-30, and they always came in the middle of a team period. It gave Jones some reps against the starters but also mimicked what could happen in-game. One snap, Moore is doing his thing at left tackle. The next, he’s flipping over to the right side. That happened in the preseason finale against Atlanta, the third-year man spending the first two series at left tackle before switching over to the right side for the third.
It’s arguably wiser than truly starting Moore there for a practice or a game. They old adage is practice how you play and with Moore having to make mid-session switches, that’s what they’re simulating.
Granted, it’s less than ideal. There’s no one who detests moving multiple linemen to plug one spot more than me. A 1:1 replacement makes things less complicated. One guy goes out, one guy goes in. But that’s not the hand Pittsburgh has to play this year. Overall, it’s a good problem to have. The Steelers’ line is as strong as it’s been in years. And with Moore developing and working hard, Pittsburgh will take the chance he can be a solid starting left tackle…and emergency right tackle.
