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: LT Dan Moore Jr.
Stock Value: Up
Reasoning: The veteran offensive tackle told reporters that he does not expect to miss any more time due to a sprained MCL he suffered against the Houston Texans. After missing one game and following the bye week, he is prepared to return, though whether that is to the starting lineup remains to be seen.
What Dan Moore Jr. is returning from is a known quantity. He suffered a sprained MCL in the first half of the game against the Houston Texans a couple weeks back. It forced him to miss the following week, and there was some concern that it could extend beyond that.
What he is returning to is as yet unknown. Starting in his place was rookie first-round pick Broderick Jones, who played at least as well as Moore had in the first four games. Putting Jones in the starting lineup was always part of the plan, when he was ready.
But will Moore lose his starting job through injury, after just one game? We will find out by Sunday, of course, but he told reporters yesterday that he did take reps with the first-team offense, even if he didn’t take all of them, adding that he was “limited”.
The third-year veteran fended off the push for his starting job from the rookie during training camp and the preseason, though he took his lumps over the first month of the year. Facing the likes of Nick Bosa, Myles Garrett, and Maxx Crosby didn’t do him any favors, but most would still have considered his level of play unsatisfactory.
It would be interesting to know how the locker room actually feels about this. Do they agree that it’s time to allow the rookie to get into the starting lineup? That would be no slight to Moore, who appears to be well-respected among his teammates, but everybody was very clear from day one about what the drafting of Jones meant.
If the Steelers do go back to Moore as the starter, what will that mean for the timeline of Jones taking over the starting role? How long of a leash might Moore have? Does the coaching staff feel that Jones is ready to be a full-time starter now, or were they only comfortable with him spot-starting for now?
Either way, the fact is we’re only having this conversation because Moore says he’s healthy and ready to go. To be abundantly clear, that’s why his stock is up, because we didn’t know what his health status would be coming out of the bye with that knee injury.
