Dan Moore Jr. hasn’t been anybody’s favorite player for the Pittsburgh Steelers, outside of his friends and family. I think I can make that assumption with a reasonable measure of assurance. The reality is that many fans seem to view him in the opposite light. But how much of the criticism that he receives justified, and what is the basis for it?
It’s a discussion that we’re having more now, as it looks like Moore’s career with the Steelers is closing. The team has drafted tackles in the first round during each of the past two years. Broderick Jones is already in the starting lineup, and Troy Fautanu likely joins him in September. but that doesn’t entirely negate Moore’s value.
“It’s hard to criticize his resume,” Mark Kaboly of The Athletic said of Moore on 93.7 The Fan this week. “What does he have, 50 career starts? I think people pay attention a little bit too much to Pro Football Focus numbers with him. I don’t think he’s as bad as a lot of people think he is.”
“Is he great?” Koboly asked of Moore. “No, but put it this way. If he leaves next year, a guy that’s 25 and has 50-some-odd starts, he’s gonna get paid a decent amount of money next year. He’s gonna be like a Kevin Dotson type of guy because the position is so light.”
A fourth-round draft pick out of Texas A&M in 2021, Dan Moore Jr. has 51 career starts, including the postseason. He has only missed two games in his career, including one at left tackle. Most assumed that Broderick Jones would claim his starting job, but he remained the left tackle all year.
He isn’t likely to hold off challengers once again in 2024, but that’s not the end of the road for Moore. Especially if the Steelers end up trading him, he is still a valuable asset. You don’t find many 25-year-old left tackles with 50-plus career starts on the open market.
Now, Moore’s situation doesn’t exactly parallel that of former teammate Kevin Dotson, and I don’t expect it to in the future. A year ago, the Steelers traded him at the end of the preseason. He ended up becoming one of the league’s top guards with the Los Angeles Rams, signing a big new deal.
Even if the Steelers trade Moore to a team who needs a starting left tackle, he isn’t suddenly going to become one of the best left tackles in the NFL. But you don’t need to be the best left tackle to get a bunch of money in free agency.
It would hurt him in free agency in 2025 if he spends all of this upcoming season on the bench. If he can’t hold off Fautanu, then Moore had better hope the Steelers do trade him. The truth is that he isn’t nearly as bad as his reputation suggests. Certainly not the catastrophe suggested by Pro Football Focus (they didn’t grade Jones much higher, by the way). But there’s a reason the Steelers drafted Fautanu — and why I favored a first-round tackle over center.
