Pittsburgh Steelers OT Troy Fautanu barely played during his rookie season due to various knee injuries, including a season-ending injury that he suffered in practice ahead of Week 3. With minimal experience as a rookie, Fautanu is a bit of a question mark ahead of this season as he takes over as Pittsburgh’s starting right tackle. However, Pro Football Focus’ Bradley Locker believes that Fautanu is going to “turn heads” in 2025 if he can stay healthy and named him to PFF’s All-Breakout team.
“Fautanu was part of that heralded tackle group from a season ago, but he never got to display his full potential in the league right away. The former Washington standout played only 55 total snaps due to a kneecap injury, but if he stays healthy this year, he should turn heads,” Locker writes. “With Dan Moore Jr. no longer in Pittsburgh, Fautanu is expected to start next to fellow first-round pick Broderick Jones. It’s still to be determined which of Jones or Fautanu stays at right tackle versus manning blindside duties, but Fautanu could play well in his first full year given his hand usage and movement skills.”
While Locker said it’s unclear who stays at right tackle, it’s going to be Fautanu there and Jones at left tackle. That’s where Fautanu played last season in Week 2 against the Broncos, a game in which he allowed just two pressures against one of the league’s best pass rushes. That game is one reason why there’s a lot of optimism about Fautanu this season, but how he’ll look coming off a serious knee injury is a question.
But his first-round pedigree and strong showing in very limited action last season is cause for excitement and it wouldn’t be a surprise if Fautanu did have a really nice season as Pittsburgh’s starting right tackle.
The team had him as a top-10 player on its board last year and there was a lot of buzz around Fautanu as being one of the 2024 draft’s top offensive linemen, but he fell to Pittsburgh. If Jones can improve in a move back to the left tackle position he played in college and Fautanu excels on the right side, there’s no reason why Pittsburgh’s offensive line can’t be one of the best in football.
The strength of the offensive line is going to be a key factor for Pittsburgh to have success with Aaron Rodgers under center and a run game that wants to take a step up with Kaleb Johnson, Jaylen Warren and Kenneth Gainwell. Troy Fautanu is going to be a big part of that, and if he can live up to his first-round billing with a strong season, the Steelers are going to be in good shape offensively.
