Steelers OT Troy Fautanu Suffered ‘Minor’ MCL Sprain vs. Texans

Pittsburgh Steelers rookie offensive tackle Troy Fautanu suffered a minor MCL sprain during his team’s preseason opener against the Houston Texans on Saturday, according to a report by Jeremy Fowler of ESPN.

Fautanu was not obviously injured during the run of play on Friday, but a team spokesman confirmed after the game that he had suffered a knee injury and was being evaluated.

An MCL sprain will likely cause Fautanu to miss multiple weeks, but will not be season-ending, as several other knee injuries could be.

The team’s first-round pick out of Washington, Fautanu is technically listed as the team’s second-string right tackle at the moment, but he seemed poised to break through into a great role quickly.

After starting Friday’s game against the Texans on the bench, Fautanu came in for the second offensive series, and was the first offensive substitute to join the lineup. With Fautanu in the game, Broderick Jones shifted from right tackle to left tackle and Dan Moore Jr. came out of the game. Fautanu ended up leading all Steelers offensive linemen with 25 snaps at right tackle.

Moore and Jones should remain in the starting lineup with Fautanu out. Devery Hamilton appears to be in line to move up to the second team, along with Dylan Cook.

Fautanu was drafted by the Steelers with the 20th overall selection out of Washington in this spring’s draft. It had seemed likely that he would be drafted higher than that, but medical concerns, including with his knees, reportedly held some teams back from selecting the Huskies star.

Fautanu was the only major injury reported for the Steelers after the game. Nose tackle Keeanu Benton also left the game after he was poked in the eye.

PITTSBURGH STEELERS INJURY REPORT