Apr 26, 2024 4 min read

By Dale Lolley

For the Observer-Reporter

newsroom@observer-reporter.com

For the first time in their storied history, the Pittsburgh Steelers have selected offensive tackles in the first round of back-to-back drafts.

For all of the big games they’ve won, including six Super Bowls. For all of the Pro Football Hall of Fame players they’ve had, including offensive linemen Mike Webster, Dermontti Dawson and Alan Faneca, the Steelers haven’t had star offensive tackles.

That’s no knock on Larry Brown, Jon Kolb and Tunch Ilkin, the three offensive tackles who have been inducted into the team’s Hall of Honor.

They all were very good players for a long time.

Now, however, in Broderick Jones, their first-round pick in 2023, and 2024 first-round pick Troy Fautanu, the Steelers have made a serious investment in the offensive tackle position.

The expectation is that both will be stars.

“I’ve always preached the importance of those big guys on the offensive line and the defensive line,” Steelers general manager Omar Khan said Thursday night after the team made Fautanu the 20th selection in the draft.

“We now have two first rounders and with that comes expectations. And we expect those guys to be the cornerstone to that line for a long time and to be really good players.”

In today’s NFL, offensive tackle is one of the hardest positions to fill. Defensive linemen have gotten more and more athletic. Just look at some of the premium pass rushers who play in the AFC North in the Steelers’ T.J. Watt and Alex Highsmith, Cleveland’s Myles Garrett and Trey Hendrickson in Cincinnati.

Last season, Watt led the NFL with 19 sacks. Hendrickson was second with 17.5, while Garrett won NFL Defensive Player of the Year and had 14.

All are lining up on opposing offensive tackles, and you’d better be able to block them.

Add in other premiere pass rushers in the AFC such as Josh Allen in Jacksonville, Khalil Mack with the Chargers and Maxx Crosby in Las Vegas, and teams better have a good set of offensive tackles to protect their quarterback.

In Jones and now Fautanu, the Steelers believe they now have that.

And it’s something they haven’t had since the 1970s when Brown and Kolb were their starters for their final two Super Bowl teams of the 1970s. Brown, drafted as a tight end, didn’t move to tackle until 1977.

“They’re two really good players,” Khan said of Jones and Fautanu. “We feel very fortunate to have those two guys on board.”

• Steelers fans will really like Fautanu. He’s athletic and plays with nastiness.

He also wore No. 43 as a football player until he became an offensive lineman in high school. And he did so to honor his favorite player, Troy Polamalu.

In fact, Fautanu has 43 tattooed on his forearm to honor Polamalu.

“He’s a black-and-gold type of guy,” said Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin.

• The Steelers had offers to trade down when it came time to make their pick at No. 20. But, as Khan said Monday when he and Tomlin spoke to the media about possible trades, they weren’t interested in moving away from a good player.

And they viewed Fautanu as a very good player.

“The phone was ringing to move back,” Khan said. “We actually had a lot more action than I expected when we were sitting there at 18, 19, teams calling to move up to 20. We weren’t going to trade away from Troy.”

• Some Steelers fans were upset with the pick because it wasn’t a center. And while Duke’s Graham Barton was still there when the Steelers selected Fautanu, taking a tackle in the first round just makes more financial sense.

First-round picks get a four-year contract with a team option for the fifth season. But under the NFL collective bargaining agreement, all offensive linemen are considered the same, regardless of what position they play.

So, the fifth-year option for offensive linemen is essentially the transition tag number for offensive linemen, which because offensive tackles are paid so well, is pretty substantial.

The fifth-year option number this year was just a shade over $15 million.

It’s no problem picking up an option at $15 million for an offensive tackle. But for a center? That would be exorbitant.

Besides, let’s remember that Mike Webster was a fifth-round pick in 1974, and Dermontti Dawson was a second-round selection in 1988.

You don’t need to spend a first-round pick on a center to get a good one.

Dale Lolley hosts The Drive on Steelers Nation Radio and writes a Sunday column for the Observer-Reporter.