Dan Moore Jr. beat odds, has held Steelers’ starting left tackle gig all season
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No need to sugarcoat it when approaching Dan Moore Jr. in the Pittsburgh Steelers locker room. Don’t bother verbally dancing around the obvious, either.
He knows, just like the fans know. His teammates, coaches, media and other observers, too.
Few believed it would get to this point — mid-December, more than three-quarters of the way through the season — and that Moore still would be holding onto the job as the Steelers’ starting left tackle.
“It’s OK, you can say it,” Moore said to a reporter after a practice this week. “It’s natural. I’m sure everyone thought that.”
Anyone with even remote familiarity with professional sports knows the drill: a team that drafts a player in the first round, it intends to start him. Typically, sooner rather than later.
So when the Steelers traded up to select Georgia left tackle Broderick Jones 14th overall in April, the writing seemed to be on the wall for Moore, the Steelers top left tackle the prior two seasons.
Yet, here we are. It’s Week 15, and Moore remains entrenched anchoring the left side of the Steelers offensive line.
“I would say my expectations are always — and have always been — higher than what people’s expectations for me were,” Moore said. “So I feel like this is kind of no shock to me.
“Regardless of what happened, I came in with a mindset that I was going to continue doing what I do, just keep improving, keep working hard. Someone once told me, ‘If you stay true to the game, the game will stay true to you.’ And that’s what I have been doing, keeping my head down and going to work and not really paying attention to the outside noise, and I think it’s been paying off for me.”
Aside from a knee injury that kept him out Week 5, Moore has held on to the starting gig at left tackle. His grip on that spot extends back 45 of the 47 games since the opener of Moore’s rookie season.
While taking over the job as a rookie fourth-round pick certainly qualified as unexpected, Moore maintaining the spot throughout this 2023 season despite the addition of Jones is a bigger surprise.
“That’s a credit to the pro he is and the type of guy in the locker room and in the building,” veteran center Mason Cole said. “Dan is such a good professional, I never doubted that he would have success. Now, when you draft (another) tackle early, you don’t know how that success is going to come. But I knew it was only a matter of time before Dan found his way and remained a valuable part of this team.”
Jones found his way, too, becoming a starter in Week 8 — not at left tackle but in place of Chuks Okorafor on the right side.
Jones’ presence, of course, means Moore’s future with the Steelers is not set in stone. Even if, as expected, the Steelers release Okorafor this offseason, it’s possible — perhaps likely — they will elect to move Jones to the left side, where they intended on him playing. Moore might then head to the right side.
“I am kind of just waiting till the season ends,” Moore said of a potential move to right tackle in 2024, “and just seeing how the organization feels about everything.”
Another potential hurdle for Moore headed into next year is the real chance the Steelers invest another high draft pick on a tackle.
Of course, it’s also possible Moore’s workmanlike 2023 compels the organization to view him as part of its future. At this point, Moore has proved he can start in the NFL, be it in Pittsburgh or somewhere else.
And if it’s here, has Moore considered he would be eligible for a contract extension before the end of next summer?
“I try not to get too ahead of myself,” he said. “This last offseason just kind of taught me change is inevitable, and sometimes unexpected. I am just taking it one game at a time right now. Obviously that is a possibility, and it crosses my mind every now and then, but I try not to think that far. I try to think short-term, week-to-week and try to keep good things on tape. That’s it.”
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