Though he’s been pretty solid for much of the season at left tackle, and there’s been a case made that maybe the Pittsburgh Steelers need to do whatever it takes to re-sign him, veteran left tackle Dan Moore Jr. “will leave via free agency” according to Pat McAfee Show Steelers correspondent Mark Kaboly.
Moore, a fourth-round pick in the 2021 NFL Draft out of Texas A&M, has been the Steelers’ starting left tackle the last four seasons. But now, playing in his final games before free agency beckons, the chances of Moore re-signing with the Steelers after a solid season seem slim to none, according to Kaboly.
“Dan Moore Jr. will leave via free agency, and they will let their last two first-round picks take over at each tackle. At this point, you would have to assume that Troy Fautanu at right tackle and Broderick Jones is at left tackle,” Kaboly writes in his mailbag on Twitter Monday morning. “They have no choice but to roll out their 14th and 20th overall picks. Anything else would be crazy.”
That’s not all that crazy to expect from Kaboly, considering the draft capital the Steelers have invested in back-to-back offensive tackles in the 2023 and 2024 NFL Drafts. However, neither Broderick Jones nor Troy Fautanu pushed Moore during the offseason and into training camp. Instead, the two battled it out at right tackle, with Jones winning the starting job due to Fautanu’s preseason injury.
Once Fautanu was healthy to return in Week 2 against Denver, the rookie out of Washington started and played well. But then he got hurt leading up to Week 3 against the Los Angeles Chargers, putting him on ice for the rest of the season. Jones has been up and down at right tackle while Moore has been steady.
That steady play led to some speculation that the Steelers will attempt to re-sign Moore.
On the season, Moore has played 1,050 snaps at left tackle and has allowed a career-low in pressures with 37. However, he’s been charged with a career-high 10 sacks allowed, according to Pro Football Focus. Despite those career-high 10 sacks, Moore has the best pass-blocking grade of his career at 68.8 overall.
Things were going pretty well early in the season as Moore had allowed just 15 pressures and two sacks through the first 10 weeks. But from Week 11 on, Moore has had some struggles, allowing 8 of his 10 sacks and 22 of his 37 pressures.
Moore is coming off a Week 17 game against the Kansas City Chiefs on Christmas in which he was charged with five pressures and two sacks allowed, so he’s struggling as of late.
But that shouldn’t hinder his opportunities in free agency. It’s not often a guy with more than 4,000 snaps and nearly 70 career starts at left tackle hits the open market, but that will likely be the case for Moore as the Steelers seem poised to hand the reins over to Jones and Fautanu, as Kaboly writes.
Jones will need some time to adjust back to left tackle after recording nearly 2,000 snaps at right tackle in his first two NFL seasons while Fautanu needs to prove he can stay healthy and handle the starting workload at right tackle. Doing that while potentially signing up for an immediate future with a 36-year-old Russell Wilson at QB seems risky.
But the Steelers don’t exactly appear to have much choice, especially after the investments they’ve made along their offensive line from a draft capital perspective in recent years and needing to find out what they have in the young tackles.
