Dan Moore's the Steelers' starting left tackle.
He expects to emerge as a leader, if not the leader, on the offensive line.
Heck, his coaches have told him that'll now be expected of him.
I'm not new here, so I'm aware of how this info, all of which I culled upon the opening of OTAs Tuesday afternoon at the UPMC Rooney Sports Complex, will be received by the Nation as a whole. I'm betting Moore's far more acutely aware. This is one seriously astute dude and, from the day I'd met him a few years ago, he's impressed with the intensity with which he approaches the over-arching challenge of being part of a group, rather than just his role.
I'm also aware of how much Mike Tomlin, Pat Meyer and the coaches have admired Moore, both on and off the field. And it's genuine.
Now, all that said ...
These same gentlemen, plus Omar Khan and Andy Weidl, were the ones who prioritized adding a tackle in not just the most recent NFL Draft but in the past two. Khan traded up for Broderick Jones in 2023, and Khan just acknowledged experiencing "the longest 10 minutes of my life" in hoping that the Rams, picking just ahead of the Steelers, wouldn't pluck Troy Fautanu.
Kinda difficult to dovetail all this, huh?
Yeah, I know.
So let's start with this: Moore stayed put at first-team left tackle for all drills Tuesday. As a result, Jones stayed at right tackle, the position he played out of necessity as a rookie. Veteran guards Isaac Seumalo and James Daniels also stayed put. And Nate Herbig, a seldom-used journeyman capable of multiple positions, was at center.
What's it mean?
On one hand, next to nothing. It's OTAs. "Football in shorts," as Tomlin's fond of downplaying this setting. And rookies aren't about to rewarded the moment they find a parking spot. (At least not since Tomlin's epic blunder in bequeathing Kendrick Green the starting center's job immediately after Maurkice Pouncey's retirement, going so far as to gift Green with Pouncey's No. 53.) That's why no one in this new rookie class carried such status at any position on this day: On the line alone, Fautanu was the second-team right tackle, Zach Frazier the second-team center and Mason McCormick the second-team right guard.
On the other hand, though: Moore's still here. And with a clear, stated purpose.
"They want me to have a voice, to use that voice," he'd tell me, referring to the coaches. "And I want that, too."
He always has, truth be told. I can recall a tale from COVID times when Moore, as a rookie himself, once detected that a veteran wasn't feeling his best self. This was in the lot outside the practice facility. And Moore had no issue, even then, reminding that veteran that he couldn't be bringing that into the building with him.
The better example, of course, is the one everyone knows: How he became a mentor and genuine friend to Jones, even as they were presumed to be competing for a job, from training camp onward. How Jones came to regard him as "someone who's meant everything to me." How that'd earn Moore that much more respect in the locker room.
"I know what difference I can make by being positive," he'd tell me, motioning toward Jones' stall, empty in the moment. "To be honest, that was part of what allowed me to push through last season with some of the uncertainty at that time. It felt healthy. It felt good. It felt like the right thing for the team and, because of that, the right thing for all of us."
It was at this point in our talk that Jones returned, overheard a bit of it and chimed in, "We take care of each other. We push each other. We make each other better."
The plural's appropriate. Jones has been no different.
When asked how Fautanu's adjusted in the very early going, Jones replied, "He comes in with a mindset that he’s gonna get better every day. He asks questions. He asks for help, like if he needs something. 'How did this look?' 'How would I approach this B-block?' The way he thinks is just on another level because he’s trying to get ready to play. At the end of the day, they didn’t draft him in the first round for no reason. He’s taking full advantage of all his opportunities that they have in front of him. I feel like he’ll be a good player.”
When asked how he felt about maybe staying at right tackle even though Khan was quoted in January as saying Jones would "eventually" move to his natural left side, he replied, " 'Eventually.' That’s the key word there. They still got me swinging both ways right now, just like last year. We just gotta wait for the season to get here and see what’s really set in stone and go from there.”
And when I asked if he had a preference between left and right ... well, watch:
“I don’t care," he'd come back with a shake of the head. "I really don’t care what side they put me on. As long as I’m in the starting lineup, that’s fine with me. I’m an aggressive player. I’m a team player. So wherever they need me to play, I’m ready to play.”
And not to be disrespectful to Herbig, but the same'll apply at center, where I'd bet -- though not everything -- that Frazier would start. All those criteria, all those circumstances that we now see notwithstanding.
Yeah, I'm stopping here.
Look, it's the 21st of May. There's a ton of time between now and Atlanta, a ton of variables that could arise in the interim. And the best possible scenario for this line, I dare say, is the one we're now witnessing, where there's a wealth of good players and good people crowding a room that'd been lacking that for far too long.
To borrow from Jones, "See what’s really set in stone and go from there."
