Player: T Troy Fautanu
Stock Value: Up
Reasoning: Troy Fautanu, the Steeler’s rookie first-round pick, is making headway after some early growing pains. He admitted that things were a bit rough initially on the first day. Two weeks into OTAs, however, he is impressing his teammates with his progress. Particularly impressive is the fact that he is working on shifting from left tackle to right tackle. If he continues his progression at a steady pace, he projects to start there when the regular season begins.
The Pittsburgh Steelers expect rookie T Troy Fautanu to start. They might not have drafted him if they didn’t view him as the type who can start right away. They had other options, such as Graham Barton, but they saw Fautanu as special.
So far, he isn’t disappointing, although there isn’t that much to see right now. For rookies like Fautanu, all they can do is go through the motions. The real work for linemen begins in training camp when they can put the pads on. this time of year during OTAs is more about fundamentals and movement.
The good news is that Troy Fautanu has fundamentals and movement ability. His movement is what jumped out to the Steelers when they scouted him. Head coach Mike Tomlin noted watching Washington tape while they were on the road during the season. He never saw an offense run through a tackle the way Washington ran through Fautanu and his movement.
They obviously want to take advantage of Fautanu’s mobility here in Pittsburgh, but they need to find the right place. If Broderick Jones is moving to the left side, than Fautanu needs to play on the right. The good news is that he is making progress getting more comfortable there. Even Dan Moore Jr. thinks so, and you know what high praise that is.
Of course, we’re still far out from the start of the regular season. We don’t know what Fautanu looks like in pads yet. We don’t know what the Steelers’ plans are. Who will settle into the first-team unit? Indeed, how long will it take for them to settle into such units? How will they rotate Fautanu, Jones, and Moore? Hopefully not at the expense of the maturation of their two young tackles.
As the season progresses, Steelers players’ stocks rise and fall. The nature of the evaluation differs with the time of year, with in-season considerations being more often short-term. Considerations in the offseason often have broader implications, particularly when players lose their jobs, or the team signs someone. This time of year is full of transactions, whether minor or major.
A bad game, a new contract, an injury, a promotion—any number of things affect a player’s value. Think of it as a stock on the market, based on speculation. You’ll feel better about a player after a good game, or worse after a bad one. Some stock updates are minor, while others are likely to be quite drastic, so bear in mind the degree. I’ll do my best to explain the nature of that in the reasoning section of each column.
