Player: T Dan Moore Jr.
Stock Value: Down
Reasoning: The Steelers’ first-round selection of Troy Fautanu all but seals Dan Moore Jr.’s fate. Barring injury, he’s likely started his final game in the Black and Gold. Fautanu should be able to start right away, and whether on the left or right side, it doesn’t matter. Whether he likes it or not, Moore should expect to get a lot of work on the right side now. He’ll need to be able to play on both sides of the line as a swing tackle. If the Steelers don’t trade him, that is.
We knew the Steelers had a shoe they wanted to drop. We just didn’t know when they would. At some point, they wanted to add an offensive tackle for the future, but the future is likely now. With their first-round draft pick, they selected Washington OT Troy Fautanu.
He is likely a Day-1 starter, the only question being on the left side or the right side. Either way, Broderick Jones is starting on the opposite side, which means Dan Moore Jr. is not. After three years as the Steelers’ starting left tackle, his tenure in Pittsburgh figures to conclude as a reserve.
Moore is a player the Steelers seemingly felt did “good enough” provided that they lacked an ideal opportunity to upgrade. They thought they found his replacement last year in Jones, but Jones unseated Chukwuma Okorafor instead. With Okorafor gone, Jones is now free to move to left tackle—unless the coaches decide to start Fautanu there.
Jones prefers to play at left tackle, as he’s stated in the past, but he also believes he can be just as good on the right side. To this point, that’s where the majority of his professional experience is, in-game. He didn’t get a ton of work during the offseason playing right tackle, so he’d benefit from a full-year immersion.
Most view Fautanu as a plug-and-play asset, so assuming that proves true, Moore’s future is unclear. As a young three-year starter at one of the game’s premier positions, he’ll have some trade value. If the Steelers like what they see from Dylan Cook and Spencer Anderson, they could move him for draft considerations. They traded Kevin Dotson and Kendrick Green just last year, so it’s not an absurd projection if he’s not starting.
As the season progresses, Steelers players’ stocks rise and fall. The nature of the evaluation differs with the time of year, with in-season considerations being more often short-term. Considerations in the offseason often have broader implications, particularly when players lose their jobs, or the team signs someone. This time of year is full of transactions, whether minor or major.
A bad game, a new contract, an injury, a promotion—any number of things affect a player’s value. Think of it as a stock on the market, based on speculation. You’ll feel better about a player after a good game, or worse after a bad one. Some stock updates are minor, while others are likely to be quite drastic, so bear in mind the degree. I’ll do my best to explain the nature of that in the reasoning section of each column.
