Analyst Predicts Troy Fautanu Will Be an Instant Impact Rookie
The Pittsburgh Steelers’ offensive line should be set up for years to come with first-round picks Broderick Jones and Troy Fautanu as the bookend tackles. The Steelers also believe they have a plug-and-play center in Zach Frazier to match with veteran guards Isaac Seumalo and James Daniels.
On paper, it’s the best Steelers’ offensive line since the mid-2010s when they had Alejandro Villanueva, Ramon Foster, Maurkice Pouncey, David DeCastro and Marcus Gilbert.
Addressing the offensive line has been prominent for general manager Omar Khan and assistant GM Andy Weidl. They want to dominate in the trenches.
NFL Network analyst and offensive line guru Brian Baldinger thinks Troy Fautanu is going to be a dominant run-blocker from Day 1.
“I’m a big fan of Troy Fautanu,” Baldinger said on NFL Network’s The Insiders. “He’s gonna be the right tackle opposite of Broderick Jones. You look at what they have in Arthur Smith as an offensive coordinator coming in. He’s gonna want to run the ball. The Steelers showed you last year, especially with Jaylen Warren, that they’re gonna be able to run it.
At Washington, Fautanu appeared in 41 games and recorded 31 starts. Fautanu started 29 games at left tackle and two at left guard in college. Fautanu won the Morris Trophy for being the Pac-12’s top offensive lineman.
“I thought he was a good run-blocking offensive tackle as there was in all of college football last year,” Baldinger said. “And he’s gonna get the chance right away in Pittsburgh in the Black and Gold, to be able to put those skills on notice. Those are the kind of things that I’m gonna notice. His ability to move big bodies with his big body.”
Instant impact rookies? @BaldyNFL drops a few names 👀 pic.twitter.com/Mogzft0cwl
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The Steelers are expected to be a run-heavy team under new offensive coordinator Arthur Smith. Smith wants his group to play with physicality. Whether that is man-blocking or getting out in space on a zone run.
“The game doesn’t change. I mean, when you look at both sides of the lines of scrimmage. You may have the greatest designer play against this coverage and schemed up perfectly, and if you can’t block the guys up front, it’s going to be hard, hard living. And you look at the history they’ve had here. I mean, there’s a great history on both sides of line of scrimmage, especially when they’ve won Super Bowls. Both sides. It’s just something I believed in. It was reason. And I was an offensive lineman myself, so going back to your question about fit, maybe that helps too, being an o-lineman. You do any job. If you’re asked to lead, lead. If you’re asked to be a lieutenant, be a lieutenant. So that’s all a part of the learning process,” Smith said.
Fautanu expects to start at right tackle during training camp. General manager Omar Khan confirmed that, as well.
“I would say that’s true,” Khan said about Fautanu playing right tackle on 93.7 the Fan.
Offensive line coach Pat Meyer has already seen growth from Fautanu. Switching sides is not always easy for offensive lineman, but Fautanu has adjusted well.
“Troy’s learned a lot of the different techniques very quickly,” offensive line coach Pat Meyer said. “The first couple days his timing was off because the speed of the game is different — now we don’t have any pads on yet, so nothing’s going to be determined until we get into camp — but his timing’s much better in terms of his get-off and run game and his sets and throwing his hands and being aggressive with his hands and whatnot. He’s improved tremendously from rookie minicamp to now.”
Fautanu primarily played left tackle at Washington, but what side he plays on really doesn’t matter.
“I don’t think it’s been as hard for him to change and do that as it would be for other guys,” Meyer said. “To be honest with you, when I talked to the kid in the draft room, he said he felt better on the right than the left. Playing on the left was more of a college thing for him at Washington. But it was not an issue for him at all.”
Nick Farabaugh contributed reporting from Pittsburgh.
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