When the Pittsburgh Steelers selected Washington OT Troy Fautanu with the 20th pick in the first round of the 2024 NFL Draft, the clock started ticking on his time to be inserted into the starting lineup.
GM Omar Khan mentioned back in March at the NFL Combine that it was the team’s intention to move OT Broderick Jones back to his more natural left tackle spot that he played during his time at Georgia, suggesting that they were going to target an offensive tackle high in the draft. They managed to have Fautanu fall into their laps at 20th overall, landing quite the value in their opinion with a player who had an impressive resume during his time with the Washington Huskies.
Fautanu has played mostly at the left tackle spot during his college career like Jones, but has been taking reps at right tackle to prompt the moves of Jones back to the left side. Khan even mentioned this week that Pittsburgh’s plan is to play Fautanu at right tackle, switching Jones back to the left to set Pittsburgh’s bookend tackles in-place for the foreseeable future.
There’s one factor that currently stands in the way of the team doing this to start the 2024 regular season, and that is the status of Dan Moore Jr. and how fast they are willing to move him to the bench in favor of Fautanu. Moore is entering the final year of his rookie contract and has had an up-and-down career thus far in Pittsburgh, getting thrust into the starting lineup as a rookie after getting drafted in the fourth round of the 2021 NFL Draft. Moore experienced trial by fire, having plenty of low moments his rookie season as well as throughout his 49 regular season starts to-date, but he also has shown a sense of being reliable in terms of health, as well as gradual improvement over time, albeit lacking much of a ceiling.
Fautanu has that ceiling that Moore doesn’t possess as an offensive lineman, being extremely mobile for his size while also possessing a mean streak as a blocker. Still, Fautanu is only a rookie and will be switching from the left to the right side himself, presenting even more of a learning curve. Pittsburgh could look to keep Moore as the team’s starting left tackle to open the season with Jones staying on the right side until they feel like Fautanu is ready to step in at right tackle, allowing them to relegate Moore to the bench and move Jones back over to the blindside.
However, it may be in Pittsburgh’s best interests to have Fautanu start out the gate at right tackle and not have to make the switch during the season, and it all has to do with Jones. Jones started out on the left side during his rookie season, earning one start against the Baltimore Ravens at left tackle while seeing extensive time against the Houston Texans when Moore missed some time. Jones was later moved to right tackle after the team benched Chukwuma Okorafor, finishing out the season there. While Jones didn’t completely fall flat on the right side, he did have moments where he struggled with the flip, looking out of place in pass protection as he struggled with the technical differences of playing on the right versus the left side.
Having Moore open up the season as the team’s starting left tackle would only mean that Jones would have to change spots again at some point during the season. This could affect Jones as he continues to get more live game reps on the right side, only having to make the switch and readjust to playing on the left side again while also attempting to get Fautanu up to speed playing on the right.
Pittsburgh has made the mistake of playing multiple players out of position, including IOL Kendrick Green at center, OG Kevin Dotson at left guard, as well as DL DeMarvin Leal and S Sean Davis at different positions. This arguably hurt each player’s development with the team, not being able to play at their best positional fit while also having to learn multiple positions rather than honing in at one spot. They are going down the same route with Jones at offensive tackle, as he has proven that he can be versatile to play on both sides, but would be better off sticking at his more natural left tackle spot.
Pittsburgh doesn’t often throw their rookies out there as full-fledged starters to begin the regular season, especially in the case of Fautanu going through a position change himself. However, if Pittsburgh wants to have Jones’ best interest in mind for his development as well as to avoid potential headache of making the switch later in the season, having Fautanu open the season as the starter at right tackle is a plausible decision the team could make.
