Even with some opportunities to move up or trade down from No. 20 overall, the Pittsburgh Steelers sat tight and landed their guy, selecting Washington offensive lineman Troy Fautanu Thursday night in the first round of the 2024 NFL Draft.
For the second year in a row, the Steelers addressed the offensive line in the first round, making franchise history in the process, with the selection of Fautanu.
Though there is a question of where he lines up in Pittsburgh, whether that’s at left tackle or right tackle, or maybe even guard or center despite what head coach Mike Tomlin said Thursday night following the selection, the Steelers landed a physical, old-school style player that brings great intensity to the group and plays with a real edge.
Based on that addition and the overall fit with team and player, Pro Football Focus gave the Steelers a “good” draft grade Thursday night.
“There have been questions about whether Fautanu will play inside or outside in the NFL, but he may have landed at the most likely spot where he can play left tackle, his natural position,” PFF writes regarding the selection of Fautanu by the Steelers. “Fautanu ranked 15th on PFF’s final big board and fifth among all FBS tackles this past season in PFF pass-blocking grade (88.2).”
There are going to be questions about where Fautanu lines up in Pittsburgh, at least until the Steelers get to minicamp and then training camp. That’s just the reality of the situation since it’s not a clean fit overall. But the Steelers did well to get one of their top-rated players on the board.
When it comes to building the offensive line in today’s NFL, it’s about the best group of five, regardless of how that looks. The Steelers seem to be leaning into that quite heavily in recent years, especially after drafting Broderick Jones as a left tackle and then seeing him start 11 games last season at right tackle.
There could be a swap of Jones and Fautanu this summer with Fautanu to right tackle and Jones back to his more natural right tackle. That remains to be seen. Again, the fit isn’t perfect from a position standpoint, but from a style and demeanor standpoint, Fautanu screams Steeler.
He was one of the highest-rated offensive lineman in the draft class, and the fact he fell to No. 20 overall has the Steelers quite ecstatic.
They got their guy, seem to be drawing rave reviews for the selection, and feel quite good about the offensive line they can put out there during the season at this point. There’s something to be said for that.
