The Steelers make a massive mistake in their offensive tackle room

The Steelers have a long tradition of slowly introducing their rookies into starting positions. They want every starter to earn their spot, and even if the rookie is an early pick, the team lets him ramp up before taking over as the starter. While many criticize this move, I’m all for it because it gives a young player time to get into the swing of things.

Another recent trend for the Steelers is prioritizing positional flexibility along the offensive line. Almost every rookie drafted has spent time at different positions, even if it wasn’t the position they were drafted for. For mid- and late-round draft picks, this makes perfect sense. However, it has become a problem in the tackle room.

Now, the team seems fully committed to Troy Fautanu being named the starter. According to Gerry Dulac, the Steelers intend to start Fautanu in Week 1 this year, which is a stark contrast to how then-rookie Broderick Jones was treated last year. All of this comes off the news that Fautanu will miss some practice time due to an injury he sustained in the first preseason game.

While I’m not objectively against the idea of ​​starting Fautanu, it does raise a lot of problems elsewhere. Although the team indicated shortly after signing him that they wanted Fautanu to be their primary right tackle, Jones has predominantly played there as a rookie. On paper, this shouldn’t be a problem, as they could have simply planned for Jones to move back to the left side permanently.

Instead, the Steelers have focused on rotating their tackles on both sides of the line again. The most consistent player has been Dan Moore, who has played almost exclusively on the left side. Now that Fautanu is slated to start but also unable to practice, the question is, how will Pittsburgh handle this?

What they should do, assuming this report is true, is move Jones to the left side permanently. He needs every snap he can get there now that the season is getting closer. This has some impact on the rest of the lineup, but shouldn’t be that important assuming Fautanu will start in Week 1.

Moore can either move to the right side or, if the team is really so adamant that he can only play left, he will become the second-team left tackle. Dylan Cook can play right tackle, and even if it’s not optimal, he should be the first-team right tackle assuming Moore doesn’t move there.

What’s really frustrating is that the Steelers could have easily entered training camp with this lineup. Jones could have been the left tackle with Fautanu on the right side, or, if they insisted a veteran had to be in front of him, they would have put Cook or Moore there. The team obviously didn’t need much convincing that Fautanu was ready to start, and if he imploded, they could have moved Jones back to the right side until he was ready.

Tackle is arguably the most important position on the offensive line, and while it was refreshing to see the team invest two consecutive top picks in tackles, they need to put more effort into giving them a permanent home. Position diversity is good for a backup, but it’s not necessary for a top pick if you want to start at a specific position. There’s still time to fix this situation, but it’s frustrating to see the top draft picks seemingly play left and right sides in round-robin fashion.