Swing Tackle Options Remain for Steelers in Free Agency
With one major exception, the Pittsburgh Steelers have checked most of their boxes in terms of pressing needs through the free agency process.
Though the Steelers do not yet have a starting quarterback, general manager Omar Khan has plugged holes at wide receiver (DK Metcalf) outside cornerback (Darius Slay), running back (Kenneth Gainwell), outside cornerback (Brandin Echols), run-stopping linebacker (Malik Harrison), defensive tackle (Daniel Ekuale) backup safety (Juan Thornhill) and backup quarterback (Mason Rudolph).
The one place the Steelers have a glaring need that remains beside quarterback is at offensive tackle. Longtime starting left tackle Dan Moore Jr. left for a huge contract in free agency, signing with the Tennessee Titans for $82 million.
The Steelers were fine with letting Moore go, because they’ve used their first-round draft pick in two consecutive years on tackles. The plan is to move Broderick Jones to left tackle after he started the last year and a half at right tackle and insert Troy Fautanu, who missed all but one game of his rookie year with a knee injury,on the right.
But that leaves the team without a backup plan beyond former undrafted free agent Dylan Cook, who has yet to appear in an NFL game over three seasons.
Calvin Anderson, who served as the team’s backup tackle after Fautanu’s injury in 2024, remains available in free agency and could return. But who else is out there if the Steelers want to sign a free agent backup tackle?
Let’s take a look:
Jedrick Wills, Cleveland Browns
A former first-round pick of the Browns back in 2020, Wills has been Cleveland’s starter at the top of the depth chart for all five of his NFL seasons. But he’s played just 13 games over the last two years, as injuries piled up, and even when healthy, his play has disappointed compared to his draft stock.
The Browns replaced Wills with 2023 fourth-round pick Dawand Jones during the 2024 season, and it doesn’t seem as if he’s a priority for the team to bring back in 2025. Wills is talented enough to land a starting job, but at this late date, and with his injury issues, that seems unlikely to materialize.
What better way to prove to the Browns that he’s still got it than to sign with the divisional rival, where the starting tackles will be a first-timer with his own injury history and someone at a new position?
D.J. Humphries, Kansas City Chiefs
Humphries spent the 2024 season with the Chiefs, but only played in two games, first missing time from a 2023 ACL injury and then suffering a hamstring injury that kept him out of the rest of the season.
A 2021 Pro Bowl selection, Humphries spent eight seasons as a starter with the Arizona Cardinals, Humphries also dealt with significant injury issues, playing just five games in 2017, nine in 2018 and eight in 2022 before the ACL injury in 2023.
The 32-year-old has been good when he’s been healthy — good enough to be a starter — but like Wills, that doesn’t seem to be materializing.
David Quessenberry, Minnesota Vikings
A member of a football family with two brothers in the NFL (sound like a Steeler already?), Quessenberry, was a fill-in starter for the Tennessee Titans when Arthur Smith was the offensive coordinator in 2020, starting six games in place of Taylor Lewan.
The following season, after Smith left for Atlanta, Quessenberry started all 17 games at right tackle for the Titans. He then became a journeyman, starting three games for the Buffalo Bills in 2022, four for the Vikings in 2023, and playing in all 17 games as a backup in 2024.
Familiarity with Smith has gone a long way in terms of getting people jobs with the Steelers lately.
Chris Hubbard, New York Giants
A former Steelers undrafted free agent, Hubbard has carved out a long career as a stable backup. Now 33 years old, he’s getting up there, but still played in eight games and made three starts for the Giants last season.
He’d be a good personality fit as someone to be a mentor to the Steelers youngsters in the room as a been-there-done that guy.
Best of the rest: Kendall Lamm, Miami Dolphins; Germain Ifedi, Cleveland Browns; Andrus Peat, Las Vegas Raiders; George Fant, Seattle Seahawks; Joseph Noteboom, Los Angeles Rams; Jackson Barton, Arizona Cardinals; Oli Udoh, New Orleans Saints; Isaiah Wynn, New England Patriots