Steelers Now
An NFL analyst has questions about the Pittsburgh Steelers decision to reshuffle their offensive line.
The Pittsburgh Steelers decided to move offensive tackle Troy Fautanu and guard Mason McCormick to the left side of their offensive line during the early portions of the offseason. However, NFL analyst Steve Palazzolo of The 33rd Team doesn’t expect it to stick.
Palazzolo believes Fautanu’s performance through the first two years of his NFL career relays the sentiment of “don’t fix what isn’t broken.”
“He’s been pretty solid when he’s been out there,” Pazzolo said on his Check The Mic podcast. “Remember, Fautanu was limited to just 55 snaps as a rookie. Missed most of the season, stepped in, played good, solid right tackle last year. There’s talk about him may be moving to the left side because Broderick Jones is battling for his job there, but I think Fautanu is locking down the right tackle. He looked fine there last year. I think they’re in a good spot.”
It would come as a little bit of a risk for the Steelers to force Fautanu and McCormick to switch positions two years into their professional careers. But if Jones isn’t expected to be healthy by the start of the season, the Steelers need to find another way to fill out the rest of their offensive line.
Fautanu is arguably the player best-equipped to be the team’s new starting left tackle if that is the case, and bringing McCormick, who he has developed a rapport with, along with him could be smart, too.
That then leaves veterans Spencer Anderson and Brock Hoffman and rookies Max Iheanachor and Gennings Dunker to battle it out for the last two spots on the right side later this summer.
Only time will tell how the rest of the Steelers offensive line will shake out, but they probably can’t go wrong with wherever they choose to play Fautanu.
Fautanu missed almost his entire rookie season with a pair of knee injuries, but he returned in 2025 and had a stellar season in his first full year as an NFL starter.
In 2025, he allowed pressure on just 6.1% of his pass-blocking snaps, which was fifth-best among right tackles with at least 200 reps, per Next Gen Stats.
This article originally appeared on Steelers Now: Analyst Doesn’t Believe in Steelers Reshuffled O-Line
