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: Seemingly excited to downplay his own ability to play at right tackle, Dan Moore Jr. must now be thrilled to see rookie Broderick Jones taking over on that side. The first-round pick has been projected as the future left tackle, but at least for now, it seems he will play the second half of his rookie season starting on the right side. That gives the third-year veteran an apparent reprieve.
I got a kick out of it when Dan Moore Jr. talked about how much more comfortable and natural Broderick Jones looked working on the right side of the offensive line. It was almost as if to say, “See, coaches? The best lineup is me on the left side and Broderick on the right, because I’m no good there”.
Well, that might not be quite the reason why the lineup is expected to look that way moving forward, but barring any surprises, that is what we anticipate seeing on Sunday. Moore on the left side, where he’s been since the first game of his career, and Jones on the right.
The pretext for installing Jones into the lineup at right tackle was a disciplinary measure against starting right tackle Chukwuma Okorafor. The veteran reportedly acted out in some way in the game against the Jacksonville Jaguars, which prompted his benching.
Jones has already started one game over him, and Okorafor told reporters himself that he anticipates that to continue this Sunday. Beyond that, he said that he is going to take things day to day. He insists that the coaches have told him that the move had nothing to do with his performance, yet Jones is now listed as co-starter with him.
Either way, it works out well for Moore, who appears likely to be safe for the remainder of the 2023 season. Unless the coaching staff decides to allow Okorafor to battle him for the left tackle job—he was projected to move there at the start of the 2021 season—there isn’t likely to be a further chance this season.
To his credit, perhaps beyond encouraging Jones to play on the right side, Moore has handled the entire offseason very professionally. He has also gotten better in his play on the other side of the bye week. He is not the ideal answer at left tackle, and perhaps his time there is growing short, but he seems to have his reprieve until the offseason.
