PITTSBURGH — Sometimes, all it takes is just paying attention to what’s being said around you. That will most always lead you to the truth of the matter.
It was a little less than a year ago that Steelers assistant general manager Andy Weidl laid out his beliefs on how to build an organization: “We’re going to be big, we’re going to be physical, we’re going to be tough. We are going to break the will of other teams. We want to be able to impose our will on teams. That’s the Pittsburgh Steelers, right?”
Well, maybe now they can.
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When the Steelers changed out nearly their entire front office two years ago, including hiring GM Omar Khan and Weidl, it was with the belief that they needed to build out the offensive line and make it the strength of the team. That’s really nothing new in the game of football, especially with the Steelers, but with Weidl seeing firsthand how that translated into winning during his time in Philadelphia, it’s been a priority.
In just over a year, the Steelers have surprisingly signed stud guard Isaac Seumalo, moved up in the first round of the 2023 draft to select Broderick Jones and kept it going on Thursday night by holding their ground and selecting Washington tackle Troy Fautanu with the 20th pick.
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Make no mistake about it, it was always going to be an offensive tackle … always.
“He is the player that we wanted,” Steelers coach Mike Tomlin said.
With power backs Najee Harris and Jaylen Warren, monster blocking tight end Darnell Washington, run-happy new offensive coordinator Arthur Smith and a veteran quarterback like Russell Wilson, you pretty much can guess what the Steelers’ 2024 identity on offense is going to be.
A moment @tFautanu won’t forget 🥹
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— Pittsburgh Steelers (@steelers) April 26, 2024
“I’ve said it from the beginning: The offensive line, defensive line, those are big priorities,” Khan said. “You know, the big man. And that’s where it starts, right? We want to be a physical football team, and it’s got to start up there.”
The way the Steelers are going about their offense isn’t in vogue in the NFL. It’s more of a spread-them-out and throw-the-ball league. The Steelers are looking to zig when other teams are zagging. Whether it works or not is still up in the air, but they haven’t wavered from the plan they put in place two years ago.
It’s something new, so why not?
Fautanu could be viewed as one of the final pieces of the offensive puzzle, and the Steelers were thrilled to be able to get him at 20. He might not start the season, but you better believe he will be in the starting lineup soon enough.
Even with how much the Steelers liked Jones last year, it’s nowhere near what they think Fautanu can bring to this offense immediately. He was a two-year starter at Washington, starting 29 of 31 games at tackle, and was by far the top prospect left on the Steelers’ board.
“He was the highest-rated guy on our board. … The tape was just really, really impressive, not only in terms of his talents, but I think his talent talents were highlighted, by the way that Washington utilized his talent,” Tomlin said. “Schematically, you saw everything that you wanted to see. You saw him out in space in the perimeter game, be it a crack toss or wide receiver screens. He was great in the run game. It was a great dropback pass protector.”
The Steelers had a chance to move back from 20, but they were in no way going to move off Fautanu, whom some projected as a potential top-10 pick.
“Every one of those 10 minutes was the longest 10 minutes of my life,” Khan said when asked about considering moving up to get Fautanu.
“He is not kidding, either,” Tomlin said. “He wore me out.”
You can understand why.
It might not be immediately, but Fautanu will solidify to the offensive line along with Jones for the next decade. Starting left tackle Dan Moore Jr. is in the final year of his rookie deal and has been a weak spot on the unit for a couple of years now.
Right guard James Daniels will likely get an extension before the season, and Seumalo still has two years left on his deal after playing at a high level last year. Sure, center is still unknown as we sit here now, but the commitment to playing smash-mouth football in this day in age is something that just might give the Steelers an edge.
Time will tell on that, but they sure seem to have a plan, and they are sticking to it, which you can embrace.
“I am ready to pour everything into this organization,” Fautanu said. “Everything up until this point of my life has been leading to this day. You have to love the game to do what we do in the trenches.”
It’s something the Steelers have been trying to improve for a while now.
They spent $72 million two offseasons ago by signing free agents Mason Cole and Daniels and re-signing Chukwuma Okorafor.
Last offseason, the Steelers brought in Seumalo, Nate Herbig and Le’Raven Clark in free agency, then drafted Jones and Spencer Anderson. They followed that up by using another first-round pick on a tackle with Fautanu. Before last year, they had gone 26 years since drafting a tackle in the first round. Now they’ve taken two in 12 months.
“We want to be a big, physical team,” Weidl said last year. “We’re the Pittsburgh Steelers.”
Fautanu is a step in that direction, as Tomlin uncharacteristically gushed about the pick.
“He’s a competitor. He loves football. He loves the things that come with football, based on talking to those around him, the preparation things, the training practice,” Tomlin said. “I mean, he’s just he’s a black and gold type of guy.”
(Photo: Thomas Shea / USA Today)
