The Steelers need a lot to go right on offense for it all to work out. But if there is one position that could gum up the works, it’s tackle. According to Mark Kaboly, at least, who discussed the matter recently on 93.7 The Fan. While he is confident in Troy Fautanu, the opposite tackle position is a much bigger question.
“They have to be good. Day One”, Kaboly said of the critical nature of the tackles to the success of the Steelers’ offense. And even Fautanu is at least something of a question mark, coming in with just one season of experience. On top of that, he’s evidently moving from right tackle to left tackle. Even though he has a college history on the left side, he hasn’t played there since college.
Still, there’s a reason the Steelers are moving him to the left side of the offense. And there’s a reason the focus has been on the right tackle position, given that they don’t know who will start there. They know the candidates—either Dylan Cook, Max Iheanachor, or Broderick Jones. What they don’t know is whether any will be up to the task, at least from Week 1 to Week 18.
Jones, a former first-round pick, has three years of starting experience, two at right tackle. He moved to left tackle last year, but is currently recovering from a neck injury. Cook is a former practice squad player who took advantage of Jones’ injury to put some good tape late last year. But now teams will have tape on him, and he won’t catch them by surprise.
The Steelers obviously expect Fautanu and Iheanachor to be their future bookend tackles on offense, of course. The latter is their rookie first-round pick, but most are predicting he will not be ready to start Week 1. And that’s something, Kaboly says, they can’t afford.
“My issue with Iheanachor is, is there enough time? You have three weeks, and you’ve got to get off the bus ready to go. Because if you waste a week and you warm up to it, you just can’t go with it”, he argued about the Steelers’ offense. “You have to go with the guy that you know with Dylan Cook”.
Obviously, offensive tackle isn’t the Steelers’ lone issue on offense. They still have to figure out just how much they can get from Aaron Rodgers, for one thing. Getting a rookie wide receiver up to speed is another, while breaking in another new-to-the-team veteran. There is talent, certainly, and that includes the offensive line. But will it all work together, and how soon?
Kaboly does believe that Iheanachor has a chance to be a part of the Steelers’ starting offense right away. He questions the narrative about his readiness. “He was very good at Arizona State. I am not a believer at all of saying the lack of experience that he has in lower levels is gonna affect him right now. I just don’t see it”, he said, calling him “very athletic for a big man”.
That’s why the Steelers drafted him in the first round, after all. But they also drafted Broderick Jones in the first round, and yet they drafted two more offensive tackles in the first round in the three years following. If that’s not an indication of how important the position is to the Steelers’ success on offense this year, I don’t know what is.