For the longest time, Pittsburgh Steelers OT Dan Moore Jr. was thought to be a LT only.
Having started the past three seasons for the team at said position, flipping him to the opposite side to compete with rookie first-rounder Troy Fautanu doesn't make much sense.
But according to Mark Kaboly of The Athletic, that's exactly what Pittsburgh intends to do:
Moore to battle for RT spot
Jones is your starting left tackle. Moore and Fautanu will battle for right tackle in camp. The loser of that battle will be the swing tackle. (Nate Herbig will be the swing player on the interior, assuming Zach Frazier wins the starting center job.) - Mark Kaboly, Athletic Mailbag
This is news for a couple reasons. For one, Pittsburgh's brass, whether it was Mike Tomlin, Omar Khan, or others, have always been forthright about Moore being a left tackle. He simply struggles too mightly to be a starter on the right side.
On top of that, Pittsburgh typically makes their rookies wait to see live action or earn it, to say the least. And while Fautanu will certainly be earning it via a training camp battle, it's one-sided based on Moore's aforementioned skillset at RT.
So that brings up the idea that maybe Moore would be a cut or even trade candidate, and you better believe he would fetch a market.
"It's hard to criticize his resume," Kaboly told 93.7 The Fan when asked about Moore's future. "What does he have, 50 career starts? I think people pay attention a little bit too much to Pro Football Focus numbers with him. I don't think he's as bad as a lot of people think he is. Is he great? No, but put it this way. If he leaves next year, a guy that's 25 and has 50-some-odd starts, he's gonna get paid a decent amount of money next year. He's gonna be like a Kevin Dotson type of guy because the position is so light."
So whether Moore becomes the swing tackle, a starting LT for another team, or waits until after the season to hit the free agent market, it seems that his days in Pittsburgh are numbered in light of the report that he will be battling for right tackle, a position Pittsburgh knows he can't play.
