When Omar Khan was elevated to the General Manager position following the retirement of Kevin Colbert, there were some other significant changes made too. One of those involved bringing in Andy Weidl. The average fan of the Pittsburgh Steelers may have only heard his name in passing or maybe not at all but his presence was an indicator that the team needed to re-think its approach. That approach was was pretty straight-forward… The Steelers had to get better on the offensive and defensive lines and that’s exactly what continued in Round One of the 2024 NFL Draft last night.
As the board fell to them, the Steelers remained patient and they were rewarded with exactly the type of player Weidl covets in Troy Fautanu. The big man from the University of Washington was selected 20th overall by Pittsburgh and he brings not just a high-quality resume of play, but just as importantly, he brings some nastiness and attitude that has been sorely missing.
Both Khan and Head Coach Mike Tomlin made it clear last night that Fautanu would remain a tackle and would not kick down inside as some had suggested. This of course means that the Center position is still desperately in need of address and hopefully we see that tonight.
If you didn’t know, Weidl helped build the Philadelphia Eagles Super Bowl winning team a few years back. He was largely credited with bringing in the talent on both their offensive and defensive lines. This is exactly why he was brought into Pittsburgh and after Broderick Jones and Keeanu Benton arrived last year, Troy Fautanu has become the next guy in line, pardon the pun.
In Fautanu, the Steelers are getting a ready-made offensive tackle with a nasty streak. He played in 32 career games at Washington and saw the majority of his snaps at left tackle. He did also play some guard. Fautanu has tremendous footwork – perhaps due to his volleyball background – that is always on display in his pass sets. There’s no question he will have some technique stuff to work on and his run blocking needs attention too but all of the pieces are there.
The Steelers reportedly had him in the top 10 on their Draft board so when the Bengals took Amarius Mims at 18, I’m told the Steelers War Room knew they had their guy. Fautanu also grew up a Steelers’ fans and actually has a Troy Polamalu tattoo. We can only wish his career is as glorious as was the former Safety’s.
With Day Two ahead this evening, the Steelers can be confident in their decision to bring in Weidl and they’ve now seen the fruits of those labors.
