Troy Fautanu played in just one game as a rookie, but he understands he can’t play that way this year. Despite his lack of in-game NFL experience, the Steelers need him to play like a veteran. He is their only option at right tackle, their depth outside otherwise perilously thin. While they re-signed Calvin Anderson, they are not in a rush to see him on the field.
“I can’t go out and do first-year things”, Fautanu told Joe Rutter of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review last week. “That is the expectation I have for myself, too. I’ve been ready for this for a long time”.
While he is a talented player, Fautanu did have “rookie moments” last season. Even going back to training camp, he worked through his mistakes, and hopefully learned. But his on-field lessons came to a screeching halt due to a season-ending knee injury after his Week 2 debut.
Last week’s OTAs were the first opportunity Troy Fautanu had to return to the field since his injury last season. “It made me hungrier, and I was pretty damn ready to play”, he said, to return to the field. “Those nights, sitting in my room, wondering if I was going to come back, that’s what fueled me”.
The Steelers put a lot of eggs in their offensive line basket, investing significant resources to build the room. Fautanu and Broderick Jones are their most precious resources, both top-20 picks. And this year, they finally have both of them where they want them to be—and presumably healthy, or close.
The Steelers selected Troy Fautanu 20th overall in the first round of the 2024 NFL Draft out of Washington. They believed so strongly in his talent that they rushed him into the starting lineup after a preseason knee injury wiped out much of his offseason development opportunities. Of course, he shortly after suffered an even worse knee injury, and is only just returning now.
Needless to say, the Steelers need him and Jones to stay healthy, along with the rest of the line. They lost a great deal of snaps and starts from the offensive line last year due to health. If considering Troy Fautanu a starter, they lost 16 games from him, and another 13 from James Daniels. Zach Frazier and Isaac Seumalo account for another six games missed.
The challenge for this Steelers offensive line is not just to stay healthy, but to grow and develop. That is both individually and collectively, because, barring Seumalo, they are all young and inexperienced. While Jones has 27 starts, only one was at left tackle, and he just turned 24. Troy Fautanu is, of course, the least experienced, with all of 55 snaps played to date. But he’s hungry for many, many more in the season to come.
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