Pittsburgh Steelers rookie offensive tackle Troy Fautanu practiced in full today after suffering a knee injury in the team’s preseason opener against the Houston Texans, and Ray Fittipaldo of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette believes Fautanu will dress on Sunday against the Atlanta Falcons in Week 1. While Fautanu will dress, Fittipaldo said he’ll be the backup tackle behind Dan Moore Jr. and Broderick Jones.
“He’s gonna be active. If you look at the way their offensive line is constructed now, [Dan] Moore’s gonna start at left, [Broderick] Jones will start at right. And they don’t really have any backup options at tackle. That’s why Fautanu, it’s good that he is healthy now because he basically has to dress because he’s the only backup tackle,” Fittipaldo said on The PM Team on 93.7 The Fan.
With Dylan Cook on IR and Spencer Anderson likely starting at left guard, the Steelers don’t have many options at tackle, and Fautanu will serve as the backup and likely swing tackle for Sunday. It’s good news he was able to practice in full today, and he could look to work his way into the starting lineup at some point this year.
Given the time Fautanu missed in the preseason and in practice, it just doesn’t make sense to throw him into the fire as a starter Week 1. But he’s going to be available if he’s needed on Sunday, and it’s a role he’ll probably hold for the first few weeks of the season. How quickly Fautanu can enter the starting lineup is going to come down to how well Moore and/or Jones play, but the Steelers aren’t going to rush Fautanu into a major role early if they don’t think he’s ready.
He took live reps yesterday for the first time since the injury, and after practicing in full today, he’s seemingly making good progress. But going from live reps for the first time in almost a month on Wednesday to playing a full regular season on Sunday would be a quick turnaround, so it makes sense to keep Fautanu on the bench for now. He’s an exciting young talent and a potential future building block for the Steelers at offensive tackle, but for now, he’s going to bide his time as a backup as he gets back up to speed within the offense.
Atlanta added a big piece in EDGE Matthew Judon, and it’s going to be interesting to see how Moore and Jones fair against Judon. It’s a big test, and if they struggle, we could wind up seeing Fautanu at some point sooner rather than later.
