Injury timeline revealed for Pittsburgh Steelers OT Troy Fautanu

Latrobe, Pa. — Pittsburgh Steelers rookie offensive tackle Troy Fautanu will miss the team’s game against the Buffalo Bills, head coach Mike Tomlin said after Sunday’s practice. The Steelers remain optimistic on a quick recovery and turnaround for Fautanu, but he could miss up to two weeks with the injury. Pittsburgh hopes that Fautanu will return against the Detroit Lions.

“From an injury standpoint, you guys got information on Troy [Fautanu] after the game. He’s got a knee sprain. He’ll be out this week, and I’ll just leave it at that. We’re really optimistic about a quick return from him, but we’ll take it day by day,” Tomlin said.

Before the injury, Fautanu played 25 snaps at right tackle. The Steelers had expected him to play a lot, and his trajectory seemed to be on a curve to the point where the Steelers would feel like upping his workload in the tackle competition. As for what that means now, there is no guarantee that Fautanu will get another chance at first-team reps, and Dan Moore Jr. and Broderick Jones feel like Week 1 starters.

“He’s doing really well. Obviously, we wanted to give him a lot of work because that’s where he is in development, but I like the general trajectory of it,” Tomlin said.

Moore has continued to stave off Fautanu, who has surged throughout training camp practices on the right side. There is no guarantee that Moore will start Week 1, either, especially if Fautanu can swiftly recover in time for the Lions game on August 24. However, if that does not come to fruition, it feels like an uphill battle for the rookie to start right away.