Steelers OT Troy Fautanu Still Uncertain about Future Position
PITTSBURGH — On Friday, Sept. 20, the 2024 season ended for Pittsburgh Steelers rookie tackle Troy Fautanu. He just didn’t know it yet.
Fautanu was at practice, getting ready to make the second start of his NFL career, when the Steelers hosted the Los Angeles Chargers that Sunday. It was a normal play, a normal motion, but the pain in his right knee was definitely not normal.
Fautanu limped off the field. A day later, after an MRI, he was placed on the injured reserve list.
The Steelers rookie had dealt with a minor injury to his other knee earlier in training camp, but the significant injury that required surgery was a whole new issue for the first-round draft pick out of Washington.
“I remember the play exactly, just trying to sit on an anchor and kind of just gave out,” Fautanu said on Monday during the Steelers’ locker room clean-out day at the end of the 2024 season.
“I felt a little different than it did previously. So I kind of knew something was up. It was heartbreaking when I got that MRI, but there’s nothing I could do about it then.”
While the practice rep is what ended Fautanu’s rookie season, it wasn’t until he got the results of that MRI a day later that he really knew what he faced: surgery, an entire season without football, and the start of a football career delayed for a whole year.
“All I remember was, I was crying,” Fautanu said. “I don’t cry too much, but that was probably something. It was pretty heartbreaking. You know what I mean? Because you have so much expectation coming into this year, especially for myself, man, I expect a lot of myself with how much work I put in. Obviously, cut my season short, very short.”
Fautanu ended up playing in just one game: a promising start against the Denver Broncos in Week 2, after he missed the opener with that other knee injury. Fautanu was solid in that contest, pushing aside Broderick Jones at right tackle, while the second-year tackle struggled.
Now, he’ll have a reset in 2025. Where he might play remains up in the air. Jones finished the season at right tackle, and had better days as the season went along. Starting left tackle Dan Moore Jr. is a pending free agent and isn’t expected to be back. There could be a fit for Fautanu on the left side.
“I haven’y really talked to them too much about that,” he said. “I’m kind of just preparing like I’m going to play right tackle, which is what you know, I was before. But we’ll see. I don’t know what they have planned, but I’m going to obviously come in and compete whatever they put me at.”
Since he started his rehab from surgery, Fautanu has been at the Steelers practice facility, hanging out with teammates and getting into meetings as much as possible. He felt like it was important to continue his development someway, even if it couldn’t be on the football field.
“Not how I wanted this to go, not how I planned it on going, but I did learn a lot, just being around here,” Fautanu said. “I did have the opportunity to go do my rehab elsewhere, but I wanted to be around the guys, be around the team, and obviously, you don’t want to lose these games, but I’m learning and picking up a lot of things from guys that have been around the league for a long time.”
Fautanu said that while there had been hope that he could return for a deep playoff run, that turned out to not be realistic. He does expect to be healthy and ready to go for OTAs in May.
“Just excited to really attack this off season, man, and get ready to grow” he said. “Because for me, I don’t got time off. I’ve had three months off, so I’m ready to go.”
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