The Pittsburgh Steelers sat at No. 20 in the first round of the 2024 NFL Draft and sweated it out as they watched several of the top offensive tackles get drafted ahead of them, including OT Amarius Mims at No. 18 to the Bengals two spots ahead of them.
GM Omar Khan said in the press conference following the pick that they were getting a bit anxious in the picks leading up to theirs in the first round. There was a good reason for those nerves, as Khan also said he was the highest-rated player on their board regardless of position at No. 20.
“Every one of those 10 minutes was the longest 10 minutes of my life, I promise you that,” Khan said in a video posted on the Steelers YouTube page.
Several notable NFL analysts have called him one of the biggest steals of the first round. Another pretty notable opinion on this came from former Alabama head coach, and one of the best to ever coach the sport of football, Nick Saban.
“I’m gonna tell you, this guy, I think, was one of the three best offensive linemen in the draft,” Saban said on the ABC broadcast of the NFL Draft. “I had him the third-best guy. Now, you may not pick him as your left tackle, right? So he can play guard, but he could play left tackle.
“So he has diversity as a player. But this guy can bend, he can block low to high, he’s got power, he’s athletic, he can run. Those kinds of guys in this day and age with all the screens and stuff are really, really important.”
Head coach Mike Tomlin already dispelled any notion that they will be moving him to guard, saying they view him as a tackle in that same press conference. The idea that he is a guard comes from the fact that he is a little under 6-4, which is viewed as a rough minimum requirement for offensive tackles at the NFL level. But for what he lacks in height, he makes up for with 34 1/2-inch arms, which is actually longer than many of the other tackles in the class including Joe Alt, the top tackle taken. Fautanu himself has also said that he is a tackle, calling guard talk “lazy analysis.”
As Saban suggested, Fautanu’s athleticism will certainly be an asset to the Steelers’ offense. This is especially true with Arthur Smith as the new offensive coordinator, who uses many wide zone concepts. The linemen are going to need to be able to move and help stretch the field horizontally, and Fautanu can do that with the best of them.
More than perhaps any other year in recent memory, being called the third-best offensive lineman in the draft is extremely high praise. Nine offensive linemen were taken in the first round in a stacked class.
“He’s nasty, and the ability to recover, I mean that’s fantastic,” Saban said. “People view him as a little bit not long enough to play tackle, but he has long arms, so I think he probably could play it if he has to. But this guy’s gonna be a Pro Bowl guard. I’ll bet on him.”
Hopefully, he can also be a Pro Bowl tackle, where the Steelers plan to play him. If all else fails, he should make a great guard or at least give the Steelers flexibility in case of injuries.
The Steelers added Fautanu, Zach Frazier, and Mason McCormick to their offensive line. McCormick and Fautanu, in particular, are very versatile and will allow the Steelers to change as needed in the event of an injury. McCormick will be the top interior depth piece along with Nate Herbig, and Fautanu could probably get away with playing any of the five positions.
