The Pittsburgh Steelers selected Washington OT Troy Fautanu with the 20th selection of the 2024 NFL Draft. Fautanu grew up a Steelers fan because one of his father. He wore Troy Polamalu’s No. 43 jersey in youth football, and now has a chance to carry on the Steelers tradition that he grew up watching.
He was clearly emotional on the television broadcast while on the phone with the Steelers’ decision makers hearing that he would be the first-round pick for his favorite team. Here is a shot of that moment from the NFL Network broadcast.
He was a pre-draft visitor of the Steelers, and they sent OL coach Pat Meyer to his pro day where Meyer reportedly had a private meeting with him prior to the event. The Steelers also have Mark Bruener as a college scout in that region. The former Steelers TE went to the University of Washington and remains very close to the program with his son currently on the team.
At the combine, Fautanu’s teammate Roger Rosengarten told me that Bruener would host holiday gatherings for players that didn’t have family in the area during the football season when they couldn’t leave. You can bet that the Steelers had great inside information into the type of player, competitor and person that Fautanu is.
It’s unclear what position he will hold down in Pittsburgh. He played left tackle at Washington, but the Steelers have stated their desire to move Broderick Jones back over to the left. There are some who think that Fautanu is a guard or even a center, due to his lack of ideal height at the NFL level, but he put years of solid tackle tape on film. The plan could be to try him out at right tackle for now with the possibility of moving him further down the line somewhere to the interior.
Here is another look, when hearing his name called on the broadcast, posted on the Steelers YouTube page.
