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Brooke Pryor, ESPN writer
PITTSBURGH — Steelers starting right tackle Troy Fautanu injured his knee in practice Friday and is sidelined indefinitely, sources tell ESPN’s Adam Schefter.
The 2024 first-round pick was scheduled to make his second career start against the Los Angeles Chargers on Sunday, but fellow starter Broderick Jones said Fautanu had “a little bit of a problem” during Friday’s practice and will undergo an MRI to assess the severity of the injury.
“We don’t really know what his condition is going to be,” Jones said of Fautanu. “I’ve replaced him and then I’m going to go after he gets his MRI and all that, and we’ll see what happens from there.”
On Saturday, the Steelers officially demoted Fautanu to start against the Chargers.
With Fautanu sidelined, Jones, who the Steelers traded to the 14th overall pick in the 2023 draft, will have a chance to start and bounce back after a disappointing performance as a backup against the Denver Broncos.
“It’s nothing new,” Jones said of his intervention. “It’s nothing mystical, so I just have to get out there and do it every time my name is called.”
Fautanu replaced Jones as the starter against Denver, but coach Mike Tomlin said he planned to rotate tackles until a series of Jones penalties sent him to the bench for the rest of the game.
“I was going to use both guys,” Tomlin said Tuesday. “I recognized that Troy was healthy. I recognized that Troy was capable. That’s why we played him, but I played him because I had concerns about his fitness level. He’s a young guy. He’s new to me. He’s new to the NFL. I didn’t know how fatigue would affect his game in terms of the details, and so he tried to protect himself from that. So I had every intention of using Broderick, but when Broderick started getting penalized heavily in the play, I backed off, held my breath and played Troy.”
Fautanu’s injury is the third major injury to the offensive line. Center Nate Herbig is out for the rest of the season with a torn rotator cuff, while veteran guard Isaac Seumalo missed the first two weeks after injuring his pectoral muscle in practice. He’s also out for Sunday’s game against the Chargers.
Fautanu first suffered a medial collateral ligament strain in the first half of the Steelers’ August opener, sidelining him for the remainder of the preseason. Still, Tomlin was complimentary about the work he’s seen from the 20th overall pick, citing it as he explained why Fautanu was ready to start before Friday’s injury.
“Troy was in great shape,” Tomlin said Tuesday. “I don’t talk a lot in the preseason, especially about rookies, because it doesn’t help me or them, but based on my actions in getting him on the team, I’m sure you understand what I was looking for in the development of the team.”
