When the Pittsburgh Steelers drafted Troy Fautanu in the first round this year, it was unclear if he would play on the right or left side. Based on how they deployed him in their first preseason game, it’s become clearer that the Steelers view him as their right tackle, at least for now. However, his performance wasn’t exactly rock-solid. Analyst Daniel Jeremiah recently explained that he feels Fautanu didn’t look comfortable in his first taste of NFL action.
Speaking on his podcast Move the Sticks, Jeremiah discussed the rookie offensive tackles and broke down what he saw from Fautanu.
“Just watching the tape, it felt like he was thinking too much,” Jeremiah said. “He’s a real natural athlete. He can bend. That was something you really saw there at Washington. Even on some of the pulls, getting him out in space, I didn’t think he was cutting it loose like he did at Washington. I thought he was just kind of a little measured, looked like he wasn’t totally comfortable.”
That’s a fair observation from Jeremiah, and he’s not the first analyst to critique Fautanu’s performance. Although he did show some power in the run game, he was having a tougher time in pass-protection. He was going against Danielle Hunter though, one of the league’s best pass-rushers, so that makes some sense.
However, it’s important to remember that the game was the first time Fautanu had ever played on an NFL field. Of course he was going to struggle. If he was good enough not to have issues in his first season, he would’ve been long gone before the Steelers had a chance to draft him. He’s a young player, and he’s learning. That’s okay.
Jeremiah echoes this sentiment later on in that same podcast.
“I will say this: he got better from the beginning of the game. I thought he got better throughout the game the more that he played. So, I’m not sounding any alarms here as somebody who I really, really liked in the draft process. But I thought of all these guys, I thought he looked like he was a little more measured and trying to get comfortable and feel things out a little bit.”
Jeremiah’s description paints Fautanu as exactly what he is: a rookie. Fautanu is also switching sides from left tackle to right tackle, so there will be an adjustment period there as well. There are multiple factors at play here that explain why Fautanu didn’t have a great game.
The important part is that he looks more comfortable in future games, but unfortunately, a knee injury will keep him out of action until the regular season. Although he’s still in play to begin the season as a starter, and it’s not like the Steelers’ Week 1 opponent has a dominant pass rush, we’ll see then if Fautanu looks like he’s acclimating better to the NFL.
