So, I'd ask the kid with the Troy Polamalu tattoo, with the proud Polynesian heritage of his own, with the childhood invested in cheering on Pittsburgh's team, with this image/message he posted as an Instagram story upon paying a formal pre-NFL Draft visit to the South Side a couple weeks ago ...
... how it must've felt late last night to learn that the Steelers, of all teams, were about to make him their first-round pick, 20th overall.
“Man, I was a little crybaby," that kid, Troy Fautanu, an offensive tackle out of the University of Washington, would acknowledge via phone of breaking down amid family and friends in Las Vegas within milliseconds of the pre-pick call from Mike Tomlin here at the UPMC Rooney Sports Complex, "I’m not gonna lie: It was very nerve-wracking up to that point, just because you never know where you’re gonna land. I’m just so happy that things happened the way they did and that I was able to get drafted by the Pittsburgh Steelers. I’m super-excited.”
Almost as if he'd foretold it:
When I tell y’all this truly is a dream come true…. It was already written. https://t.co/D1xncp2FhH
— Troy Fautanu ™ (@tFautanu) April 26, 2024
Awesome. Just awesome.
That call from the coach:
Welcome to the Burgh brother 🙌#SteelersDraft | @tFautanu pic.twitter.com/aH0X1YFJk5
— Pittsburgh Steelers (@steelers) April 26, 2024
And the crybaby at the far connection:
Here we go @steelers‼️#NFLDraft #BeAPro pic.twitter.com/WFpKfoSWlt
— Washington Football (@UW_Football) April 26, 2024
Catch how he donned the cap before Cam Heyward made the podium call next to Roger Goodell in Detroit?
And catch that little head tilt as he clasped hands with both his grandmothers, Maluapapa Lemalu and Amelia Fautanu, the family matriarchs?
Love it. All of it. Sorry, but I'm a total sap for this sort of stuff by default, never mind when it comes with a double-dose of destiny.
But man, there's more.
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The kid can really play.
At Washington, he wound up a two-year starter, he and the Huskies reached the College Football Playoff championship game against Michigan, and he'd be awarded the Morris Trophy as the Pac-12's best offensive lineman per the voting of the conference's defensive linemen. And get this: In 623 pass-blocking snaps this past season, he allowed all of two sacks and 23 total pressures, this despite the Huskies and Michael Penix -- the quarterback drafted No. 8 overall by the Falcons on this night -- needing more time than most to execute their trademark deep passing attack.
Geoff Schwartz, a former NFL lineman turned analyst specializing in that area, and one I've come to trust in his assessments, wrote of Fautanu that he's "probably got the most in his pass protection tool box I’ve seen from a prospect in awhile," adding of his run-blocking that he's "physical" and "plays with violence."
That's a succinct summation of the general sentiment, one that our Chris Halicke shares in this morning's must-read Chalk Talk.
Me, I'll settle for this single clip:
…I appreciate a well executed cut block. DE wasn’t ready for this one lol
— Ben Fennell (@BenFennell_NFL) February 23, 2024
cc: Troy Fautanu pic.twitter.com/Wnj8SueUeS
Dude. That's, like, murder in multiple states.
And is that my imagination, or does Fautanu initiate by looking off to his right to make the eventual victim think he'd go untouched?
The Steelers, by the sound of it, fell for him. Hard.
That began with the brass assigning former tight end and current scout Mark Bruener to tailing him at his own old Washington haunt, then dispatching Pat Meyer, the offensive line coach, to his pro day on campus, then making him one of their 30 allotted non-local, pre-draft visits. But, from the way Tomlin and Omar Khan were describing it here, the body of work on the field had more than spoken for itself.
"The tape was just really, really impressive," Tomlin would say. "Not only in terms of his talents but, really, I think his talents were highlighted by the way Washington used him schematically. You saw everything that you wanted to see. You saw him out in space in the perimeter game, be it crack-toss or wide-receiver screens. He was great in the run game. He was great as a drop-back-passer pass protector. ... He just checked every box. We're excited to have him."
It showed.
When Fautanu's official measurements -- 6 feet, 3 6/8 inches, 317 pounds, both below average for an NFL offensive tackle -- came up, Tomlin snapped back, "What are we talking about? If he was a quarter of an inch taller, you might not be asking that. He's got great arm length, and his tape is very, very impressive. It's probably one of the reasons why he was available to us, so we really probably appreciate his stature, to be quite honest with you."
When Fautanu's reported history of knee trouble came up, it was Khan's turn: "We wouldn't select him if we weren't comfortable with it. I can't speak for some of the stuff that's put out there and what's true and what's not, but we're comfortable."
When all those other options staring at the Steelers at No. 20 came up -- every cornerback, for example, of a solid corner class, Khan shrugged it off and pointed to Fautanu instead: "I would say that he was a player that we had rated really high up on the board. He was one of the guys that we were hoping would be there and that we were targeting."
And when I'd ask Khan how tough it was, based on what they were saying, to wait all night at No. 20 for Fautanu to fall, especially when five other offensive tackles had already been taken in this tackle-rich class ... well, just watch:
"Yeah, we're glad ... " Khan would begin before playfully glancing about the room for a clock. "I don't even know what time it is right now, but, yeah. It's 10:53. Yeah, can't say enough about how excited we are to have him. This guy loves football. I can't wait for you to get the opportunity to talk to him."
At which point Tomlin, looking my way, interjected with a smile, "Just turn the tape on."
And Khan would add, "This guy loves it."
Trading up or down, Khan would allow, was very much in play, adding, "The phone was ringing, obviously, to move up, move back. It's just part of it. At the end of the day, we had the opportunity to move back if we wanted to. But when we were at 19 and waiting for the Rams to make their selection and they picked who they picked, and we were just, we weren't going to ... "
Tomlin completed the thought: "We weren't moving off Troy, no."
Khan: "Every one of those 10 minutes were the longest 10 minutes of my life, I promise you."
Tomlin: "He is not kidding you, either. He wore me out."
Both burst into laughter.
"We just felt really good about it," Khan would say. "He's the player we wanted."
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And, as I'd clarify, Fautanu's wanted at tackle, not to fill the still-glaring gap at center.
"We're not concerned about that," Tomlin would reply to my question about his capability there. "We legitimately see him as a tackle."
But will he stay at left tackle?
"Right now, he's a tackle," was all that question would cull. "Maybe we'll have a little bit more detail for you in the morning."
Hm. Fautanu's due to arrive this morning on a red-eye flight from Las Vegas. He'll meet with Tomlin and other team officials, and he'll be available for a full-on press conference at 4 p.m. It's possible, I presume, that they'd rather discuss left vs. right with the young man before sharing that publicly.
Fautanu's own take, and it's consistent with the one he'd put forth at Washington: "I'll play wherever they need me. I want to help the Steelers win games."
The scenario's now this: Dan Moore's the incumbent at left tackle, but nothing screams more loudly that a starter's about to be replaced than a first-rounder being acquired for the same spot. Broderick Jones, first-rounder a year ago, started at right tackle upon breaking into the lineup at Chuks Okorafor's permanent expense, but Khan stated in March of Jones, "He was drafted to be a left tackle and, eventually, he'll be a left tackle."
It's anyone's guess how that'll play out, beyond Moore being phased out and leaving behind a pair of high-pedigree bookends.
What doesn't require guesswork, certainly not anymore, is how the hiring of Arthur Smith as coordinator and now this further fortification of the line, not to mention the strong possibility that a center could be selected as soon as Rounds 2-3 tonight, is getting the Steelers that much closer to an objective they've prioritized since Khan and assistant Andy Weidl took over in 2022: Be big, physical, snarly and all that old-school stuff.
Or, as Weidl once elegantly espoused, "Players you feel good about when they’re on your bus going to the stadium."
Bunch of those now, huh?
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Fautanu, son of parents from American Samoa -- with lineage stretching to Tonga, as well -- and born in Henderson, Nev., was a running back through eighth grade there. And he'd worn No. 43 in those years, as a tribute to Polamalu, until he'd be bumped up to the line.
I asked Fautanu if, by chance, he'd ever encountered Polamalu in any form, and what followed was football gold.
“Yeah, I have," he replied. "Through the recruiting process. The University of Southern California was trying to recruit me."
Polamalu's college, of course.
"They lined up my visit the same weekend that Troy was gonna be there. I was there talking to Clay Helton, the head coach at the time, and then somebody knocks on the door and the coach goes, ‘Go open the door.’ I opened it, and it’s Troy Polamalu sitting right in front of me, my idol growing up — my GOAT."
Greatest of all time, for anyone not up on their hip acronyms.
"It was a surreal moment. I didn’t know what to say. And it’s just so crazy. It’s just so hard to visualize, because he’s very soft-spoken. Everything that he did on the field and everything he contributed to football, him talking to me in that way ... it was very surprising. But it's something I’ll never forget.”
OK, and?
Why choose Washington over USC?
“Honestly, because I knew Troy Polamalu wasn’t gonna be there every day."
Everyone on this end of the call erupted in laughter.
Sometimes the sap just scripts itself.
“Man, it really couldn’t have gone any better, to be honest," Fautanu would proceed. "Between Polamalu ... just growing up a fan of the Steelers ... Ben Roethlisberger was there ... I know a lot about the team and a lot about the history ... I’m just super excited to finally get this over with, and it couldn’t have been any better that it's with the team that I grew up loving.”
Imagine the reciprocation.
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