A host of teams to draft a tackle in the 2024 first round made immediate position switches from where that player lined up in college.
Joe Alt moved from left to right tackle, while JC Latham slid from the right side to the blind side in Tennessee. Taliese Fuaga shifted from RT at Oregon State to LT with the Saints (both he and Latham were back at RT by 2025). Jordan Morgan saw rookie-year time at guard in Green Bay (but has since moved back to LT post-Rasheed Walker). Graham Barton moved from tackle to center, while Tyler Guyton shuttled from RT to LT to open his Cowboys career. This slew of changes involving ’24 first-round blockers made Troy Fautanu‘s adjustment blend in rather than stand out.
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Fautanu primarily played left tackle at Washington, being a starter as the Huskies rallied to the CFP championship game behind left-handed quarterback Michael Penix Jr. The Steelers slotted Fautanu to the right side as a rookie, and while he missed most of that season due to injury, the team kept him at RT while Broderick Jones shifted to LT following Dan Moore Jr.‘s 2025 free agency defection. With Jones struggling and then running into a major injury issue, Fautanu may be headed back to the blind side.
The third-year blocker lined up at LT during Steelers OTAs Monday, per the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette’s Ray Fittipaldo. Fautanu said (via ESPN.com’s Brooke Pryor) the prospect of him moving to left tackle on a full-time basis remains “up in the air.” The Steelers are beginning first-round tackle Max Iheanachor at RT. This and Jones’ injury situation would open the door for a mid-contract Fautanu position shift. Fautanu earned All-American acclaim as a left tackle during his final Washington season.
The Steelers are optimistic Jones will be a training camp participant, but he is coming off neck surgery. A setback is believed to have occurred, clouding the fourth-year tackle’s outlook. The Steelers declined Jones’ $19.07MM fifth-year option, and their decision to draft Iheanachor — albeit after being prepared to take Makai Lemon at No. 21 before the Eagles’ seminal trade-up — could lead to the Georgia alum following Moore as a one-contract tackle in Pittsburgh. Two years remain on Fautanu’s rookie deal, and the Steelers can extend that pact through 2028 by exercising his fifth-year option. The team does not need to make that decision until May 2027.
Fautanu said he does not want to shift inside to guard, seemingly making a preemptive strike against a configuration that places Jones and Iheanachor at tackle, but added he believed he could do so if asked. Fautanu saw action in multiple Washington games at guard, but it does not appear the Steelers are interested in exploring that path. Mason McCormick and Spencer Anderson lined up as the team’s first-string guards at OTAs, per Fittipaldo, who adds McCormick switched from right guard to left guard.
McCormick became the Steelers’ James Daniels fill-in in 2024 and the team’s full-time RG starter last season. The former fourth-round pick, however, did see extensive left guard time at South Dakota State. The Steelers lost three-year LG Isaac Seumalo to the Cardinals, who signed him to a three-year, $31.5MM deal. Anderson, a former seventh-round draftee, has made 11 career starts; he mostly worked as Seumalo’s backup over the past two seasons while McCormick handled RG duties. The offseason switch adds some intrigue to Pittsburgh’s front, as Fittipaldo notes the only 2025 Steelers O-line starter who remained in the same spot was center Zach Frazier.
The Steelers added competition at guard by drafting Iowa’s Gennings Dunker in the third round. While Anderson took the first reps at RG Monday, Fittipaldo adds Dunker and FA signee Brock Hoffman will be expected to push him for the role. McCormick, Pro Football Focus’ No. 17 overall guard last season, appears assured of a starting spot in 2026.