A season-ending injury is devastating for any NFL player, but arguably even worse for a rookie. The Pittsburgh Steelers dealt with a few injuries to their rookie class last year, but none more impactful than first-round OT Troy Fautanu’s knee injury, which required surgery and ended his season after just one regular-season game. He opened up about the struggles of his recovery after an OTA session today.
“I wouldn’t say I handled it the best some of the time,” Fautanu said in a clip posted by TribLive’s Chris Adamski on X. “I would say I was my biggest enemy. Sometimes just thinking about the future when really I had to just lock in what was going on that day. But I felt like once I did lock in and really just focus on day to day, I really turned the corner on my recovery.”
Fautanu’s season-ending knee injury followed a separate knee injury suffered in the preseason. He was on track to potentially start Week 1 of his rookie season, but the preseason injury delayed that process slightly. After working his way back, he started Week 2 and played 55 offensive snaps. He looked very good in his debut but got injured in practice ahead of Week 3.
He overcame some other injuries in high school and college, so the recovery process wasn’t completely new to him, but the stakes were obviously much higher. The Steelers made him their first-round pick, and with that comes a lot of pressure.
Keep in mind that Broderick Jones was drafted in the first round the year prior, and Dan Moore Jr. was still on the roster. It would be easy to begin worrying about your future starting job in Fautanu’s position. Especially when already dealing with a major knee injury.
Fautanu was back working yesterday with no visible brace of any kind or limitations to his movements. It’s just football in shorts for now, but that’s a good sign that Fautanu will be a full go when training camp starts and the pads come on.
With Broderick Jones on the left side and Fautanu on the right, the success of the offense could rest in the young tandem’s hands. The Steelers desperately need their first-round investments to start paying off in a big way.
Through the adversity of last year’s injury, it sounds like Troy Fautanu learned a thing or two about how to take care of himself physically and mentally, even if it was a rocky recovery at first. That is an important piece of the puzzle for his career longevity, even if the timing was less than ideal.
