Mike Tomlin Explains Steelers Strange Right Tackle Rotation

PITTSBURGH — Troy Fautanu has passed Broderick Jones as the Pittsburgh Steelers’ starting right tackle, but that doesn’t mean that you won’t see Jones when the Steelers take the field against the Los Angeles Chargers in Week 3.

Fautanu made his first career start last Sunday against the Denver Broncos, after having sat out in the season opener, just days after he was fully cleared to return from a preseason MCL sprain.

Tomlin planned to rotate Fautanu and Jones at right tackle against the Broncos, citing concerns about Fautanu’s conditioning level in his first NFL game, which was being played at high elevation in Denver, to boot.

“I had intentions of utilizing both guys,” Tomlin said on Tuesday. “I acknowledge that Troy was healthy. I acknowledge that Troy was capable. That’s why we started him. But I rolled him because I had concerns about his level of conditioning. He’s a young guy. He’s new to me. He’s new to the NFL. I didn’t know how fatigue would effect his play in terms of detail. And so, in trying to ward off some of that, I had every intentions of using Broderick.”

That lasted all of one drive. Jones took the field for the third Steelers drive of the game, and in that drive, was penalized three times for 25 yards, with one of them wiping out a 50-yard completion from Justin Fields to George Pickens. That earned him a season on the bench for the rest of the game.

“When Broderick started to get highly penalized in play, I backed off of it, I held my breath and I played Troy,” Tomlin said.

Pittsburgh Steelers offensive tackle Troy Fautanu before his first start against the Denver Broncos on Sept. 15, 2024. — Alan Saunders / Steelers Now

But that doesn’t necessarily mean that you won’t see Jones back out there this week. Tomlin is giving the young tackle, who has been battling injury, another chance to get back into that rotation.

“We’ll see where the roads lead,” Tomlin said. “We’ve got a week of preparation. I’d be disrespectful to Wednesday, Thursday and Friday if I had a hardcore plan in mind about how I was going to roll those guys. I’m gonna give Broderick and opportunity to rebound. He’s a talented young player. I’m sure he suffered some disappointment in Troy starting. It’s a natural thing. But he’s got to move past it and I’ve got to give him an opportunity to move past it as a leader. So we’ll get into this week, we’ll let participation be our guide and the quality of participation, for both guys, be our guide in terms of how we divvy up reps this week. It’s a new week.” 

Tomlin said that he is up for the idea of a Steelers tackle rotation going forward, leaving the door open to Jones continuing to play, even if he doesn’t unseat Fautanu as the starter.

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“Rotation doesn’t bother me when everyone is capable,” he said. “Everyone was capable, I had very little knowledge about Troy’s level of conditioning, and so it was appropriate.

Tomlin was asked what Jones did to lose his job in the first place, which obviously happened before his three-penalty drive against the Broncos, but he said it was more about what Fautanu has done as a very NFL-ready rookie than any specific shortcomings of Jones.

“It’s more reflective of what Troy was doing,” he said. “Troy had been lighting it up. I don’t talk a lot in preseason, particularly about rookies, because it doesn’t help me and it doesn’t help them, but based on my actions in terms of putting him in the lineup, I’m sure you are understanding of what I was looking at in team development.”

Tomlin also said that Jones will continue to work at both left and right tackle in practice.

“We’ve been doing that,” he said. “That was going to be his role regardless of who starts and who doesn’t. He is the most positioned guy of the three to swing and so he’s been the swing.”