The Pittsburgh Steelers landed their guy in the first round of the 2024 NFL Draft, and it was one not many people thought would be available at pick No. 20 in Troy Fautanu. Immediately following the pick, GM Omar Khan described the minutes leading up to the selection as an extremely nerve-racking experience.
“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.
He also said that Fautanu was the top-rated player on their board regardless of position at that spot, and from the sounds of it, Khan wasn’t willing to wait to find out what was going on when the Los Angeles Rams were on the clock at No. 19, one spot ahead of the Steelers.
“They had called me pretty early. They had called me earlier than usual because Omar and coach [Mike] Tomlin basically like were on edge trying to get me,” Fautanu said in an interview with Softy & Dick on 950 KJR in Seattle. “We were sitting there waiting throughout the entire L.A. Rams pick who had number 19, and basically he called me when the Rams were on the clock, and he was asking me, ‘Are you getting any other phone calls?’
“Because they didn’t know if someone was gonna trade up to get me. So he was kind of one edge as well, trying to make sure that no one else was gonna call. But I told him when I figured out who it was, I was like, ‘Mr. Khan, I’m not dropping this phone.’ It was almost meant to be.”
The Rams had a minor need at offensive tackle, but Khan seemed to be more worried about a team trading ahead of the Steelers, who had an obvious need at tackle, to select the best remaining tackle prospect on the board.
This gives some interesting insight into the way the Steelers operate, and further confirms the fact that Fautanu was their one and only target by the time their pick came around. In 2023, Khan executed a trade to move up three spots to select Broderick Jones, so those thoughts may have crossed his mind more than once in the minutes leading up to the Fautanu selection. Ultimately the Steelers stayed put, got their guy, and were pretty fired up about landing him at that spot.
There wasn’t quite the run on offensive tackles that some expected in the top half of the first round, but five had already been drafted by the time the Steelers were on the clock, including Amarius Mims to the Bengals two spots before them. The next-best prospect, and the only other one to be selected in the first round, was Tyler Guyton at No. 29 to the Dallas Cowboys. Had the Steelers missed out on Fautanu, the value wouldn’t have been great if they were still going the tackle route in Round 1.
What a great feeling for Fautanu, a noted Steelers fan, to get the call that early and know that the Steelers wanted him so badly that they were frantically trying to gather intel when they weren’t even on the clock.
