When the Pittsburgh Steelers open the regular season, their offensive line will probably look very familiar. The way things are trending, there will likely be only one new starter, the other four in the same positions as they were a year ago. That includes Broderick Jones playing right tackle and Dan Moore Jr. remaining at left tackle.
We don’t know how long that arrangement will last, and it may not be long at all. The Steelers drafted Troy Fautanu in the first round in part because they believe he is NFL-ready. He has a wealth of college football starting experience though they did move him from left to right tackle.
But Fautanu is overcoming a knee injury he sustained in the first preseason game, having not yet returned to practice. He claims he will be ready to play by the season opener, but athletes tend toward optimism.
And the thing is, even if he is healthy enough to play, that doesn’t mean he will play. He has already missed a couple weeks, and many valuable reps, for a rookie. The Steelers are now preparing for games that actually count, and Fautanu has yet to take many first-team reps.
As for Moore, he has arguably been the Steelers’ best tackle this summer. He certainly looked better in the preseason a week ago than did Jones, who had a night to forget. To his credit, Jones looked much better in the preseason finale but still not like a franchise left tackle.
Which is all the more reason to assume that the Steelers aren’t ready to move Jones from right to left. And which, again, is all the more reason to assume that Moore will be the starting left tackle in the opener. Of course, the interior of the offensive line doesn’t offer any surprises.
Isaac Seumalo was always going to be the left guard, the Steelers regularly giving him rest. Some speculated that the Steelers could attempt to trade James Daniels, but he isn’t going anywhere this year. Mason McCormick will have to wait.
No, the lone new starter is rookie second-round pick Zach Frazier, who takes over at center. He spent the offseason running behind Nate Herbig, but now Herbig is on season-ending injured reserve. The Steelers don’t even have another viable starting option though Herbig would have been a new starter himself.
So there you have it. The most likely scenario is a Steelers starting lineup of Moore, Seumalo, Frazier, Daniels, Jones from left to right. In other words, it is closer to identical to last year than fans hoped for, swapping out Mason Cole for Frazier. It’s not what the Steelers envisioned in April, either.
While Fautanu will enter the equation at some point, the question we have to ask is how much better this line, with very nearly the same personnel in the same positions with the same position coach, can be this year than it was last year. One hopes that the answer is “a lot”.
