The Pittsburgh Steelers need to figure out what to do with Dan Moore Jr. during training camp Realistically, he could be anywhere from starting at left tackle to off the roster by the end. One place Brian Batko doesn’t expect to see him much, however, if at all, is at right tackle.
“Brian Batko: Yes, I still think Troy Fautanu will be a Week 1 starter. But they aren’t competing to be the RT”, Batko wrote in a recent chat when asked about a competition at right tackle. “Dan Moore almost certainly isn’t going to play there, maybe not even practice there. So Fautanu has to be better at RT than Moore is at LT”.
Basically, he doesn’t believe that Moore is Fautanu’s challenger for the right tackle job—practically, and perhaps literally. Fautanu in that sense is only battling himself, and if he loses, Broderick Jones has to play there.
The consequence would be Moore remaining in the Steelers’ starting lineup at left tackle, with the rookie on the bench. And under this scenario, they would have to leave Jones on the right side, when they want to move him.
Despite years of practice, Moore has been open about the fact that he basically doesn’t like playing right tackle. While he will begrudgingly say that he will play there if he has to, he certainly doesn’t want to. And by all accounts, he has struggled to transition to playing there after playing left tackle all his life.
Some believe the Steelers are fully committed to moving Broderick Jones to left tackle, which necessitates Dan Moore Jr. moving to right tackle and directly competing with Troy Fautanu to start at right tackle. Quite frankly, I don’t know what the Steelers’ plans are and I’m not going to bother to guess. I can see it playing out in a number of ways, ending with Jones and Fautanu starting.
Batko’s reading of the situation, though, notably diverges from his colleague, Mark Kaboly. The writer for the Athletic went so far as to say that he feels Moore has the inside track to start at right tackle. Meanwhile, Batko isn’t even sure the Steelers will let him practice there. So if the beat writers who cover the team don’t even know, then we on the outside certainly don’t. This is speculation season, and quite obviously that includes the reporters.
All we know is the Steelers invested first-round picks in Jones and Fautanu the past two years. They certainly want these guys on the field, but they displayed patience last year. Moore kept Jones on the bench until he moved over to right tackle last year, but now he is ready.
The question is, will Fautanu be ready for the start of the season when Jones wasn’t? He comes into the league with more college experience than Jones had, but they still have Moore ready to roll. And the Steelers obviously like him more than the fans do.
