One of the biggest questions for the Pittsburgh Steelers stems from a very good problem to have: who do you play at left and right tackle after drafting Troy Fautanu? Both he and last year’s first-round pick, Broderick Jones, are left tackles. Fautanu has played two whole snaps at right tackle, while Jones started for more than half of last season at right tackle.
Jones has the playing experience, but they’ve wanted to move him to left tackle. Yet Fautanu may struggle to see the field quickly if he has to pick up the right tackle position. It’s a tougher task in the short term, and it’s hard to say what the best option is in the long term. Is Fautanu-Jones your best combination five years from now, or Jones-Fautanu?
The thing is, the Steelers don’t know, and neither do Jones or Fautanu. I don’t think either of those players even know where they’re going to line up to begin the offseason. This is despite claims to the contrary by at least one local reporter about the team’s intentions. Nearly a week after he became a Steeler, Fautanu still hasn’t had those conversations.
“Honestly, they haven’t told me too much”, he told Dave Mahler and Dick Fain on 950 AM KJR. Mahler’s nickname is Softy, by the way, and they go by the duo title of Softy and Dick. I assume that’s in their contracts, or if not, it should be.
“When I visited, they were just talking about me getting into the building, the logistics of everything”, Fautanu said. “Maybe closer to when I report, which is next week, Thursday, we’ll get into more detail, but we haven’t talked about it too much. I’m kind of just ready to play anything, to be honest, and learn from the guys that have been around I’m just trying to get ready to go”.
The Steelers have Dan Moore Jr. as the incumbent left tackle, where he’s started the past three years. But a team doesn’t take tackles in the first round two years in a row and not play them. Moore is obviously on his way out, and his chances of opening the season as a starter are, in my opinion, extremely low.
Fautanu is an experienced college starter, not raw like Jones coming out of Georgia as an underclassman. He is likely a plug-and-play guy, and Jones already has one start at left tackle under his belt. Many believe Fautanu has the potential to play up and down the line, in theory, but of course the Steelers want to lock him into one spot.
Of course, first up is rookie minicamp, so where he plays there isn’t going to tell us much. I’m guessing that Moore and Jones will also take the first-team reps during OTAs. Fautanu probably sees snaps on both sides of the line. For that matter, Jones and Moore likely do as well.
After all, if Moore is going to be a backup, he’s going to need to work on his play at right tackle. The consensus is that he’s awful at it, but he’s also had minimal practice there.
