Rewind to just four or five seasons ago, and the Pittsburgh Steelers had one of the best offensive lines in the NFL. Players like Maurkice Pouncey, David DeCastro, Ramon Foster, and Alejandro Villanueva were just winding down their careers, which kicked off the beginning of a full offensive line rebuild in Pittsburgh. The first attempt, well, it didn’t exactly go as planned.
Kendrick Green, Kevin Dotson, Dan Moore Jr., and Chukwuma Okorafor were drafted to be developed into the future unit, but only Moore remains on the roster. He started his first three seasons in the league but is now being pushed by rookie first-round round OT Troy Fautanu and second-year OT Broderick Jones. The line is completely unrecognizable from just a few seasons ago, and the Steelers are hoping that means great things for the future of the unit.
Troy Fautanu spoke to the media on Saturday ahead of the third training camp practice and stated the offensive line unit’s goal.
“We want to be the most physical offensive line [in the NFL],” Fautanu said via Pittsburgh Post-Gazette’s Jason Mackey on X. “We want people to watch our film and be afraid of us.”
Since Omar Khan and Andy Weidl took over as the GM and assistant GM, respectively, they have renewed their focus on winning in the trenches. It had been a long time since a first-round pick had been invested at offensive tackle, and they did it in both of the first two years under new management. Three of their first five draft picks this season were spent in hopes of completing the OL overhaul.
Fautanu and Jones have a chance to be the bookends of the line for the better part of the next decade or more, and Zach Frazier has the experience coming out of college to hit the ground running and be a very solid center for years to come.
Fautanu’s goal echoes something that Tomlin said after the conclusion of the draft in April.
“We just wanna roll people,” Tomlin said in an appearance on NFL Network. “We got some backs that we like. We got a good offensive line. We took Broderick Jones a year ago. This draft pool or class we thought was really loaded with some top-end offensive line talent, and we just wanted to draw from that well.”
Arthur Smith brings a run-first offensive system to Pittsburgh. The offense’s intended identity seems clear. Their ability to execute that identity will largely depend on the development of this young offensive line. Jones flashed some great run-blocking abilities in his rookie season, and both Fautanu and Frazier were maulers in college. If and when it all comes together, they should be able to achieve their goal of the Steelers’ offensive line being feared.
