PITTSBURGH —Entering the 2025 season, expectations are high for a pair of unproven players on the Pittsburgh Steelers offensive line. The Steelers used back-to-back first-round picks on Broderick Jones in 2023 and Troy Fautanu in 2024, with general manager Omar Khan attempting to bookend the team's offensive line.
So far, that plan has not worked out according to plan. Jones has played two seasons of right tackle, and has yet to live up to the billing of being the No. 14 overall pick, particularly struggling with pass protection.
Fautanu had a promising rookie season cut short after just one game, after a freak knee injury cost him the rest of the 2024 season. Fautanu was a player that had injury concerns coming out of Washington , but the injury that cost him his rookie season wasn't related to those concerns , a freak dislocation of his kneecap thanks to a missed step.
There was some hope that Fautanu might be able to return for the end of the 2024 season if the Steelers made it far enough in the playoffs, but that didn't materialize. A the first practice of OTAs on Tuesday, he was back in action for the first time since the injury.
Pittsburgh Steelers offensive tackle Troy Fautanu warms up before a game against the Denver Broncos on Sept. 15, 2024. — Alan Saunders / Steelers Now
"Foot just got caught in the ground real weird," Fautanu said on Tuesday. "I've just got to continue to stay on top of it. … I'm getting there. I would say that. I'm on the back end of it now, just working into live reps. But I've pretty much got the green light."
Fautanu will make that return at right tackle, which is not the position that he played over the course of his high school or college career. But with Jones making the move from right tackle to the left side, that leaves the right for Fautanu.
"I hadn't played right tackle since freshman year of high school," Fautanu said. "Playing it through OTAs last year and training camp, I started to really like it. It's different, but a little bit easier."
Between Jones and Fautanu, the Steelers have an awful lot tied up in their offensive line renovation, and the players are keenly aware of how much the organization has invested in their success.
Pittsburgh Steelers offensive tackle Troy Fautanu at practice on Sept. 2, 2024. — Ed Thompson / Steelers Now
"Coach [Tomlin] brings it up in almost every team meeting that it's a point of emphasis on the big guys," Fautanu said. "You see with how the draft's been going and the emphasis on drafting players up front is important. There's an expectation behind that. They're counting on us to do our jobs at a high level."
Fautanu didn't have much of a rookie season, playing in just one game in 2024, but he said he's determined to not play like a rookie in 2025.
"How I go about my business, how I carry myself around the building, I've only played one game, it feels like I'm a rookie, but at the same time, I feel like I walk around like I'm a second-year player," he said. "That's the expectation that Coach Tomlin has for me — to not go out there and expect first-year things. I expect that out of myself. I always have; I always will.
"I've been ready for this for a long time."
There's an awful lot riding on him being right.
This article originally appeared on Steelers Now : Steelers OT Troy Fautanu Knows Pressure Is On After Freak Knee Injury Ruined Rookie Year
