Until the first year of the Omar Khan-Andy Weidl regime atop the front office, the Pittsburgh Steelers hadn’t selected an offensive tackle in the first round of an NFL Draft since 1996.
Not content with merely breaking that streak in 2023 when they traded up to get Georgia’s Broderick Jones, the Steelers went back to the tackle well last year and selected Washington’s Troy Fautanu.
Don’t expect to see the Steelers complete the hat trick this spring. Not with a glaring need on the defensive side of the trenches and depth needed at the skill positions and quarterback.
The Steelers might not address tackle at all in the 2025 draft, but what they did the previous two years will help determine how successful the offense can be.
Drafted as a left tackle but stuck behind Dan Moore Jr. for two years, Jones made 26 of his 27 starts at right tackle. With Moore exiting in free agency, Jones will move back to his natural position. The only game he has started there in the NFL came early in the 2023 season against Baltimore.
Jones had his ups and downs playing on the right side, and more is expected of him in his third season.
“We drafted Broderick to play well no matter where we play him,” coach Mike Tomlin said, “and that is my expectation. That is his expectation as well.”
Fautanu, healthy after missing all but one game last season because of injuries, is in line to start at right tackle. He seemed poised to jump immediately into the lineup as a rookie before getting hurt in training camp. He supplanted Jones in Week 2 at Denver but suffered another knee injury and spent the rest of his rookie season on injured reserve.
Tomlin expects Fautanu to be ready when offseason workouts begin next week. The Steelers re-signed Calvin Anderson to be the swing tackle and veteran insurance policy.
In a sign they are willing to see how the 2025 season plays out with Jones and Fautanu as starters, the Steelers didn’t bring a single tackle prospect to UPMC Rooney Sports Complex for an official predraft visit.
NFL.com considers this year’s class of draft-eligible tackles an average crop, ranking it fifth among 11 positions. NFL Network analyst Daniel Jeremiah has six tackles among his top 50 but only two going in the top half of the first round: LSU’s Will Campbell (No. 10) and Missouri’s Armand Membou (No. 12).
Membou, a two-year starter at right tackle, is viewed as the “safest pick,” according to NFL.com’s Lance Zierlein. Campbell was a three-year starter at left tackle at LSU and a Lombardi Trophy finalist, but his 32.5-inch arm length could portend a future on the interior of the line.
“He could be a perfectly fine tackle,” ESPN analyst Jordan Reid said, “but he could be a Pro Bowl-level guard.”
Campbell’s arms are almost two inches shorter than Fautanu’s, whose NFL position was in question a year ago.
“People may want to push him inside to guard, and some teams will be fine trying him at tackle,” Reid said. “If a guy predominantly has played tackle and had success at tackle, try him out there and allow him to show you he’s not capable of doing it at the NFL level before putting him inside.”
Jeremiah projects Texas’ Kelvin Banks Jr. as being the third tackle taken in the first round. A three-year starter at left tackle, Banks won the Lombardi and Outland trophies.
Ohio State’s Josh Simmons could go in the first round provided teams are convinced he isn’t a medical concern. Simmons started one year at San Diego State at right tackle, transferred to Columbus and started the 2023 season at left tackle. He was six games into his junior season as the starting left tackle when he tore the patella tendon in his left knee.
“He was the MVP of that team until his injury,” ESPN’s Mel Kiper Jr. said.
