The Pittsburgh Steelers selected Washington OL Troy Fautanu in the first round of the 2024 NFL Draft, with Fautanu falling to them at No. 20 overall. A lifelong Steelers fan, Fautanu took to Twitter to show his excitement after being drafted.
“God is so good. It couldn’t be written any better. I was born to be a Steeler! Pittsburgh… let’s get to work,” Fautanu tweeted.
Fautanu posted “dreams turn reality” while in Pittsburgh at the Steelers facility for his pre-draft visit a few weeks ago, and Fautanu’s old tweets showing off his Steelers fandom have been making the rounds on social media ever since his selection Thursday night. He reaffirmed that it was a dream come true, quote-tweeting an old Steelers tweet and writing “When I tell y’all this truly is a dream come true…. It was already written.”
It’s cool to see a player get picked by their childhood favorite team, and for Fautanu, a lot of it goes back to his childhood favorite player.
“I grew up a Troy Polamalu fan, I wore 43 pretty much my whole life before I had to switch to O-line and couldn’t wear it,” Fautanu said in a conference call with Pittsburgh media via 93.7 The Fan.
He’ll now look to bolster the offensive line for his childhood favorite team, where the team already confirmed that he’s going to play tackle. Fautanu has five-position versatility but was primarily an offensive tackle in college, playing over 1,000 snaps at left tackle. The Steelers can either use him at left tackle or try to move him to the right side while shifting Broderick Jones back over to the left side. The Steelers need to figure out what they’re going to do at the center position, as currently Nate Herbig is slated to start.
But for now, Fautanu can bask in the fact that he’s now a member of the team he grew up watching and rooting for and can be an important part of its offensive line turnaround. We’ll see if the Steelers decide to start Fautanu immediately or if they’re a little more cautious with him as they were with Jones last season. We’ll likely get a better idea of that when he actually hits the field, first at rookie minicamp in two weeks and eventually at mandatory minicamp and training camp.
Fautanu has also already heard from Isaac Seumalo, so he’s already getting to know his teammates and it’s good to see Seumalo reach out as one of the leaders of the offensive line room. Fautanu will address the media again tomorrow, and I’m sure we’ll hear more about his love of the team and fandom growing up.
