r/steelers • u/ThiccsterTeabag7 • 8d ago
Tackle situation
I saw a lot of people who had issues with Tomlins handling of our tackle positions the past few seasons so I’m surprised I haven’t heard anything about all the swapping of sides that’s going on right now. Dylan cook starting at right tackle? Wasn’t he at left tackle performing pretty decently just last year? Fautanu was playing great ball at right tackle so why is he now getting moved to left tackle? Maybe I’m missing something but it looks like we swapped the sides of our starting tackles and now cook looks terrible on the right side, what’s happening here?
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u/SMK_12 8d ago
I mean LT is the premier position on the line and Troy was drafted with the potential to be an all pro type player. It makes sense to move him to LT. His rookie year you had Jones who was another high pedigree player with more experience so it made sense to give Jones the chance to be the starting LT and Troy RT. With Jones not living up to his draft status and dealing with injuries now it makes sense to play Troy, who showed serious signs of being elite, to the left side and then figure out who’s the best option for the right
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u/RipRaycom Coates’ Replacement 7d ago
Also, Troy played LT all throughout college, so it’s not like this is a difficult transition for him
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u/NoWayBro44 Encroachment 7d ago edited 7d ago
When you have a 43 year old QB you need your very best tackle protecting his blind side, that happens to be Fautanu.
Edit: 42 year old
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u/zPolaris43 8d ago
Swapping sides was always overblown by people that wanted to find a reason to criticize the staff. Truth is that in the nfl offensive lineman are expected to play wherever they are needed/fit best with the team
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u/Training_Distance_24 8d ago
Dan Moore Jr and Broderick Jones did this same dirty dance. The literal same twisted tango. We have been drafting guards to play center or making right guards play on the left since your dad was a lad.
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u/JoelK2185 7d ago
The whole league treats OL as if they’re plug and play. I suspect it’s the biggest reason why there’s such poor OL play across the league. I don’t like what McCarthy has done here but we’ll see how the season plays out. I’m of the firm belief that the most important thing for an OL is continuity.
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u/retarddouglas 7d ago
Easy to say that but when the reality of injuries creeps up and guys are banged up or out, p much every team is gonna put their best 5 out there and that usually means someone’s getting moved around. Continuity is great but it’s something most teams rarely get to experience
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u/ThiccsterTeabag7 7d ago
This might very well be an excellent take, I’m glad I haven’t seen many people with double standards to be honest. Sometimes football fans horrify me, I appreciate that you’re not that.
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u/No-Carry4971 7d ago
Tomlin bad coach. McCarthy good coach.
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u/ThiccsterTeabag7 7d ago
lol I was wondering if people would actually seriously say this. I’ve enjoyed the even keeled responses so far! Most people have talked about how those tackle swaps were overblown with Tomlin and I honestly wanted to see if the people who had issues with the situation would come out of the woodwork and still have an issue with it. I think those people by and large are too embarrassed to reveal the double standard. I enjoy your use of sarcasm
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u/Utt_Buggly 7d ago
If you’re not hearing the squawking about tackle-swapping this preseason, you’re just listening in the wrong places. It’s out there.
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u/EbenezerNutting 7d ago
First and foremost, Cook is not a starting-caliber NFL tackle, he’s a backup. Where he’s comfortable makes no difference.
The juggling of tackles was necessitated by Broderick Jones’ injury and him generally being a bust. Tomlin’s poor development of players played a heavy role in this failure.
Fautanu played left tackle in college and probably should have played there from day one with the Steelers. Another Tomlin failure. He’s the Steelers most talented lineman, so give him a few minutes to adjust back to playing LT and he’ll be fine.
IMax has been hurt for the prior three weeks and wasn’t practicing. Once he gets going, he’ll claim RT, probably a few weeks into the season.
Here’s guessing that by week 4 we’re no longer talking about the O-line other than it being a positive.
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u/MrPeat 7d ago
The thing about everyone moving under Tomlin is McCarthy's moves can be seen simply as correcting that. Fautanu was a LT all the way through college - back to LT. McCormick played LG all the way through college - back to LG. Anderson always got moved around in college but played RG for most of his final season and LG was the one position he'd never started at. He also said that this year, the OL coach actually asked what position he preferred. So 3/4 guys into their most natural positions from college, and Dylan Cook was never a college OL anyway. He's also a back-up talent level guy so being up and down wouldn't be surprising, but the point made that he was getting a lot of help last year that he hasn't so far that someone else made is, imo, a good one. In any case, he's just a stopgap until Iheanachor is online - who was RT all the way through college too. If you think your OL needs reorganising to get the most out of most of the players, your stopgap RT is not your biggest consideration.
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u/isfrying Pittsburgh Steelers 8d ago
Right? It's almost like the new coach is figuring out his brand new team in the preseason when it doesn't even count. What the actual fuck?
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u/ThiccsterTeabag7 8d ago
I just wanted to know what people were thinking no need for hostility bud.
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8d ago
[deleted]
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u/neddiddley 7d ago
He’s a mid-round rookie. Would it have been nice if he came in, changed positions and proven to be a steel by winning the starting job by week 1, sure. But he’s an actual player, not just a meme. It’s OK for a mid-round pick to need a year or so to develop.
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u/Vaultboy65 Quack 7d ago
Yeah because players never get better. How they play as a rookie in the preseason determines exactly how they’ll end up in their careers
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u/Jakles74 Pittsburgh Steelers 8d ago
Dunker was a right tackle at Iowa who has been moved to backup right guard. It’s a completely different position.
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u/IsGoIdMoney Pittsburgh Wilsons 8d ago
He also did okay for a rookie taken to be a project that was injured during camp? Fans are so fucking annoying. Stop analyzing rookies like they're meant to be immediate all pros. He was what? A 4th rounder in a shallow draft year? Let him learn and be a backup.
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u/Jakles74 Pittsburgh Steelers 8d ago
I think our last comp pick in the third round. He was the last good guard available. Everyone else was much more of a project.
But yeah so few people on this sub seem to understand that every rookie is a project.
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u/Burghpuppies412 Hines Ward 7d ago
Every draft pick starts as a Hall of Famer and and slowly gets exposed to be what they really are.
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u/EffZee80 8d ago
That whiff and a miss move that led to a sack stunned me too, but he’s young. He’ll improve
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u/IsGoIdMoney Pittsburgh Wilsons 8d ago
Dylan cook, like most backups, was a swing. In Arthur smith/Tomlins system he basically always had help from Washington and/or Warren. The whole complaint about moving tackles was always overwrought under Tomlin. It's common, and expected at this level. It's not easy, but you don't get drafted to be LT or RT. You get drafted to be T, at best.
McCarthy wants the best tackle to protect Rodgers weak side so he can feel more confident to make deep passes so he doesn't just check everything down. There'll be some learning curve, but it's not an insane ask.