For the second year in a row, GM Omar Khan and the Pittsburgh Steelers addressed the trenches in the first round of the NFL Draft, landing Washington offensive lineman Troy Fautanu at No. 20 overall.
Though the overall fit is curious considering Fautanu played left tackle in college at Washington and the Steelers have stated they want to move 2023 first-round pick Broderick Jones back over to left tackle, the Steelers landed one of their top players on the board in Fautanu.
The selection of the physical Washington product has some members of the Pittsburgh Steelers rather fired up by the move.
Steelers’ quarterback Russell Wilson, who will be protected by Fautanu in Pittsburgh, welcomed his new offensive lineman to the franchise.
“Welcome @tFautanu to the Burgh! @Steelers,” Wilson wrote on Twitter.
Wilson was acquired in free agency by the Steelers, signing a one-year deal worth $1.21 million with the Steelers after being released by the Denver Broncos.
Wilson has taken quite a few sacks in recent seasons and tends to hold onto the ball too long, but adding a piece like Fautanu to protect him and add some snarl to the Steelers’ offensive line has the veteran quarterback quite excited by the draft pick.
Fellow Samoan and defensive tackle Breiden Fehoko, who re-signed with the Steelers on March 8, welcomed Fautanu to the Steelers on Twitter as well Thursday night.
“UCE,” Fehoko wrote on Twitter with the Samoan flag and four fire emojis.
“Uce” comes from the Samoan word “uso” and is used when a man addresses another man as his brother, or a woman addresses another woman as her sister. It has been lost a little in translation, with some people mistakenly believing it means brother, according to ABC News Australia.
Along with Fehoko, former Steelers’ offensive lineman Trai Essex reacted to the selection of Fautanu, writing on Twitter that it might not be a flashy move, but teams are built through the trenches.
“It’s not flashy. It’s foundational. Get that foundation strong and sturdy and the flash will come…. Welcome to #SteelerNation Troy Fautanu! #HereWeGo,” Essex wrote on Twitter following the pick.
Essex nails it. It’s not a flashy move, but drafting an offensive lineman in the first round for the second straight year and continuing to rebuild the offensive line in the Steel City is the smart move, especially with the way the Steelers want to play football offensively under new offensive coordinator Arthur Smith, who will lean heavily on a physical run game and take advantage of play-action passes.
Even former Steelers’ center AQ Shipley, a Pittsburgh native and a former seventh-round pick of the Black and Gold in the 2009 NFL Draft out of Penn State, tweeted his excitement for the selection of Fautanu by the Steelers in the first round.
“Steelers just got a guy that embodies EVERYTHING that franchise stands for. Great pick by Pittsburgh,” Shipley writes.
It’s early in the reactionary period to the selection, but it seems that plenty are rather excited by the Steelers’ selection in the first round of the NFL Draft.
