Troy Fautanu To Miss Rest of Preseason
UNITY TWP., Pa. — Pittsburgh Steelers rookie offensive tackle Troy Fautanu suffered a minor MCL sprain during his team’s preseason opener against the Houston Texans on Friday, according to Jeremy Fowler of ESPN.
Fautanu, who had a big knee brace on his left leg on Sunday, is expected to be out for the rest of the preseason. He should be good to go for the Steelers’ season opener against the Atlanta Falcons on Sept. 8.
It’s unclear at what point Fautanu suffered his injury on Friday night. Fautanu had medical concerns coming out of Washington, 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.
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.
Fautanu struggled in his NFL debut, allowing two sacks. On one rep, Danielle Hunter gave Fautanu a welcome to the NFL moment.
Fautanu has split first-team split reps with Dan Moore Jr. during training camp. He’s a player that the Steelers have high hopes for, and the missed time could hamper his chances of being a Day 1 starter.
The Steelers drafted Troy Fautanu out of the University of Washington with the 20th overall pick in the first round of the 2024 NFL Draft.
In Fautanu’s final season at Washington, he played in and started all 15 games of their season at left tackle. Fautanu played a career-high 993 offensive snaps and allowed two sacks and three quarterback hurries. His play earned him First-Team All-Big 12 honors for the second consecutive season.
Additionally, Fautanu won the Morris Trophy for being the Pac-12’s top offensive lineman.
Alan Saunders contributed reporting from Unity Twp.
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