Throughout the pre-draft process, the Pittsburgh Steelers have been scouting the offensive tackle position rather heavily, focusing particularly on the right tackle position with names like Oregon State’s Taliese Fuaga, Georgia’s Amarius Mims and Alabama’s JC Latham.
But in recent weeks, the Steelers have been connected to Penn State offensive tackle Olu Fashanu, which is a bit of a surprise.
Fashanu is a left tackle only prospect and was once considered arguably the best left tackle in the draft class. But in recent months, his draft stock has seemingly fallen, potentially leading to a drop in the first round of the NFL Draft. Most recently, Pro Football Focus paired the Steelers with Fashanu in the first round of the 2024 NFL Draft mock draft, creating some buzz.
For the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette’s Ray Fittipaldo, speaking during an appearance on the 93.7 The Fan PM Show with Ray Fittipaldo and Chris Mueller, the Steelers would likely pass on Fashanu if he were available at No. 20 overall, even with the talent and the position of need overall for Pittsburgh.
“I think they would probably pass. He’s a left tackle. Their desire is to move Broderick Jones to the left side,” Fittipaldo said of the potential scenario where Fashanu is available at No. 20 overall. “That’s definitely something they want to do in short order. I don’t know exactly when it’s gonna happen, but Fashanu isn’t a guy who, it seems like, has a lot of right tackle capability.
“So, I think they would probably just pass on him.”
Fashanu checks in at 6060, 312-pounds with 34-inch arms and has some strong tape during his time at Penn State. He would have likely been a first-round pick in the top 10 last season if he would have come out in the 2023 NFL Draft, but he decided to return to Penn State for another season of seasoning.
During his time at Penn State, Fashanu played in 29 games with 21 starts at left tackle. Last season with the Nittany Lions, Fashanu was voted a consensus All-American selection, the Big Ten Offensive Lineman of the Year and a First Team All-Big Ten selection. He was also a team captain for the Nittany Lions and teammates voted him the team MVP.
When it comes to his prospect status and his film, it’s very clean. If he were on the board at No. 20 with the Steelers were on the clock, many would likely pound the table for him to be the selection as a plug-and-play left tackle, but Fittipaldo doesn’t see it that way, especially with the Steelers wanting to flip Broderick Jones to the left tackle and find a “plug-and-play” offensive lineman, particularly at right tackle, in the NFL Draft.
That’s not Fashanu.
The Steelers might change their thinking if that scenario played out, but they didn’t host him as a pre-draft visit in Pittsburgh, didn’t have a meeting with him at the 2024 NFL Scouting Combine and didn’t send any big names to the Penn State Pro Day, outside of Director of College Scouting’s Dan Colbert.
The Steelers have their list of offensive line prospects that they’ve kept a close eye on throughout the pre-draft process, and Fashanu wasn’t among them. Chances are, he won’t be the pick, but that would be a tough sell passing on that type of talent were he to fall.
