The day after the first round, and with the mouse, the people were clicking on the draft comparisons to come out.
Sorry for the rhyme, the NFL Draft always has me feeling like Christmas morning, anxiously running to the interweb the next morning to see what everyone has to say about your pick.
According to former Steelers Trai Essex, Omar Khan and company gift-wrapped the perfect selection for the Black-and-Gold.
“First of all, fantastic pick,” said Essex on 93.7 The Fan. “I’m ecstatic, I mean he is everything that I want as far as a guard or a tackle… he brings a nasty disposition to the O line and that’s what we need. We need an attitude changer to go along with Broderick. Somebody to just instill that Steelers mentality.”
And that’s exactly what Fautanu figures to do. A nasty, hard-nosed tackle, who possesses plus athleticism, which should lend itself to Arthur Smith’s physical run scheme.
As has been documented so far, Fautanu was widely regarded as one of the top tackles in the draft, only to fall into the Steelers laps at pick number 20. The jury is out for the exact reason as to why he may have fallen, but size and injury concerns seem to have been the main reasons.
Following the Steelers selecting the former Washington Huskies tackle, Ian Rapoport reported on the NFL Network that some teams may have had concerns about Fautanu due to a previous ACL and Lisfranc injury. The Steelers were not one of those teams, with Tomlin saying they were comfortable with his medicals.
For those of you who like to imagine a 1-to-1 comparison as to what the Steelers are getting in Fautanu, Essex made one fans will be familiar with.
“You know who he reminds me of his one of my draft mates, Chris Kemoeatu,” said Essex. “He had his own nickname. Back when you could make a wedge. Opposing teams called him wedge because he was just a wedge by him damn self.”
Kemoeatu actually holds several similarities with Fautanu. Both stand 6’3 and weigh 300+ pounds, both played their college ball in the Pac-12 and both share Polynesian ancestry. While Kemoeatu doesn’t share the same draft pedigree as Fautanu, being a sixth-rounder, he did carve out a respectable career, playing six seasons and helping the Steelers win a Super Bowl.
Kemoeatu also played a different position than Fautanu does, spending most of his time at left guard. While many projected Fautanu to guard at the NFL level, Tomlin was adamant in his press conference that he would be a tackle.
“He’s a tackle.”
Hopefully Fautanu, like Kemoeatu, can help to spark the Steelers run game and bring the team another Lombardi.
