Buy Or Sell: The Steelers will trade Dan Moore Jr. before the start of the regular season.
Explanation: The Steelers committed to a future without Dan Moore Jr. as a starter in the first round of the draft last month. Broderick Jones and Troy Fautanu are their starters now. Yet Moore is still a young left tackle with three years starting experience, so he should have a trade market. If the Steelers managed to unload Kendrick Green in 2023, someone will trade for Moore.
Buy:
The Steelers are increasingly less beholden to the players of the previous front office regime. We have seen the team trade Chase Claypool Kenny Pickett, Diontae Johnson, Kevin Dotson, and Kendrick Green. And those are the names off the top of my head, so there are likely others. Why wouldn’t they trade Dan Moore Jr. as well?
While Steelers fans may not respect him, teams around the league will value his three-year starting history. How often do you have an opportunity to acquire a 25-year-old left tackle with 49 starts? You have youth and experience here, just what teams covet.
The Steelers seem to be high on Dylan Cook and Spencer Anderson, two young players. With Nate Herbig and Mason McCormick inside, both Cook and Anderson can focus on tackle. Odds are at least one of them shows enough competence to be the swing tackle. That makes Moore expendable, and then you accept the highest bidder.
Sell:
Let’s pause for a moment and consider this. The Steelers could enter this season with a left tackle with one NFL start and a rookie right tackle who’s virtually never played there. And you want to trade your most experienced tackle because of two nobodies who might be decent?
You don’t have to like Dan Moore Jr. to respect the security he brings through familiarity and experience. He is a luxury that the Steelers can afford, and they should very much plan to. Do you want Spencer Anderson one snap away from being your left tackle?
Many seem to assume that Moore is gone after the season anyway, so just get it over with. We don’t actually know that is the case. If Moore loses his starting job, he may have a year with no tape. That will hurt his market value, and the Steelers will have two starting tackles on rookie contracts. There’s a good chance they can re-sign him affordably to remain as their swing tackle, so don’t cast him off.
At least not now. Perhaps a team gets desperate toward the bye week due to an injury. By then you should have a good idea of your comfort level in your young tackles. Somebody offers you a third-round pick for Moore; you’re not taking that?
With the Steelers’ 2023 season in the rearview mirror following a disappointing year that came up short in the playoffs once again, it’s time to start asking more questions. Questions about the team’s future in 2024 and beyond. Questions about The Standard.
The rookie class of a year ago was on the whole impressive, but they need to step up into staple starters in 2024. And they likely need a strong influx of talent in both free agency and in the 2024 NFL Draft yet again. In addition to a revisitation of the coaching staff.
These sorts of uncertainties are what I will look to address in our Buy or Sell series. In each installment, I will introduce a topic statement and weigh some of the arguments for either buying it (meaning that you agree with it or expect it to be true) or selling it (meaning you disagree with it or expect it to be false).
