Fautanu latest OL to visit
S. Dakota State interior lineman McCormick also on the South Side
Much like last year, the Steelers continue to home in on a new offensive lineman with their first-round pick in the 2024 draft.
At least that’s what their pattern of pre-draft visits suggest. The Steelers are allotted 30 each year and they added two more offensive linemen to the list Monday, including another projected first-rounder at tackle in Troy Fautanu of Washington. Also on the South Side to kick off the final week of visits is South Dakota State interior lineman Mason McCormick, who played guard in college but is being viewed by NFL teams as a center, too.
Fautanu — pronounced fah-oo-tawn-oo — started every game the past two seasons for the Huskies, mostly at left tackle but one at left guard. But he wasn’t protecting the blind side in that role because quarterback Michael Penix Jr. is a left-hander. There could be a move to right tackle in Fautanu’s future, or even the interior — he could even give center a try — though he’s coming off a first-team All-Pac 12 season.
What makes many analysts think Fautanu could be better-suited as a guard
is that he’s just shy of 6-foot4, slightly undersized for an NFL tackle. But he weighed in at 320 pounds at his pro day and has 34½-inch arms, the same length as current Steelers left tackle Dan Moore Jr.
Fautanu also moved well at the combine, running a 5.01-second 40-yard dash with a 32½-inch vertical jump. He’s considered one of the more athletic tackle prospects in this draft, even if he’s not the biggest. And he also might be one of the nastiest, though he’s a fifthyear senior who will turn 24 this season. It will be interesting to see how teams contrast his ceiling with his floor as an older player.
Given that he’s from the West Coast, having played his high school ball in the Las Vegas area, the Steelers likely wanted to bring in Fautanu for a visit to get more familiar with his personality as well as his positional flexibility. It’s not a safe bet that he even lasts to their first pick at No. 20 overall.
McCormick is more of a Day 3 type who could sneak into the third round if a team believes in him enough. At 6-4, 309 pounds, he’s got legitimate size coming from the FCS level, but he’s another older prospect who turns 24 next month and was a sixth-year senior.
A two-time consensus All-American and threetime team captain, McCormick has 57 college starts to his name, all at left guard. He was lightly recruited out of Sioux Falls, S.D., but ran a 5.08 40 at the combine and did 32 reps on the bench press at his pro day.
McCormick is another player the Steelers likely want to get to know better and evaluate whether he can add center to his repertoire. The only true centers to visit the Steelers are Oregon’s Jackson PowersJohnson and West Virginia’s Zach Frazier.
If you count Fautanu as a tackle, the Steelers have had seven of them to their facility, including Pitt’s Matt Goncalves as a local visitor. There figures to be two more days of this process for the Steelers before they begin putting the finishing touches on their big board.