When the Pittsburgh Steelers selected OT Troy Fautanu 20th overall in the 2024 NFL Draft, the expectation was that he would be one of the team’s bookend tackles for the next decade. Pittsburgh Post-Gazette’s Gerry Dulac confirmed that when he reported that Fautanu would be the team’s starting right tackle to start the season.
Unfortunately for the Steelers and Fautanu, he sustained a knee injury in his first preseason game. But could he be back in time for the season opener at the Atlanta Falcons?
“I’m just focused on whatever I got this week,” Fautanu said per video from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette’s YouTube channel. “We’re slowly progressing, but slow progression is still progression, you know what I mean? So for me, it’s just doing whatever the trainers tell me to do and showing up on time and make sure I do it with 110 percent effort.”
As a rookie, the lost practice (and playing) time can hurt. Fautanu is working hard to keep his mindset right rather than getting down on himself. And he recognizes the need to continue learning the offensive scheme despite being unable to go out and execute it.
“Just making sure I take it day by day,” Fautanu said. “Making sure that I’m not falling off in terms of the playbook stuff, whatever install is going in. Making sure I’m ready for whatever opportunity comes to me when I come back.”
No one wanted Fautanu to be spending more time with the trainers and medical staff than with offensive line coach Pat Meyer. But it’s the reality he and the Steelers face right now. And it’s only making the offensive tackle situation messier.
The Steelers are playing Fautanu at right tackle, but that leaves the team with an issue regarding Broderick Jones and Dan Moore Jr. Last season, Moore was one of the worst offensive tackles in the entire NFL. So the Steelers seemed committed to getting Jones back to his natural left tackle position. That’s why they drafted Fautanu and put him at right tackle.
Unfortunately, two things went wrong. One is obviously Fautanu’s knee injury. That’s why Jones was the starting right tackle versus the Buffalo Bills last Saturday.
The second problem is Jones. He played the majority of his snaps last season at right tackle and showed progress throughout the season. But against the Bills, he was terrible. And at no point this summer did Jones supplant Moore as the starting left tackle as many expected. Thankfully for the Steelers, Moore has played well this preseason while Jones hasn’t.
Ray Fittipaldo believes that the Steelers thought Jones would have developed more at this point in his career. They wanted Jones and Fautanu to be the starting tackles going into 2024, but Jones hasn’t held up his end of the bargain.
And Fautanu is working hard to make sure he holds his end up.
