The Pittsburgh Steelers 2024 NFL season has come to a close. Because the Steelers are among the 31 teams who did not finish fulfilling their ultimate goal, they are in the process of wrapping up their season and moving forward into 2025.

Since the Steelers conduct exit interviews with all their players, and the fact I have done these articles in the past, we thought we would do them yet again here at Steel Curtain Network. By outlining two players each day, we will be able to look at their season in retrospect as well as looking toward the future. Since Coach Tomlin has previously stated he starts his interviews with rookies and those heading into free agency, we will attempt to do the same to some degree. To start, we will pair the most recent draftees with another player at the same position (if possible) as we work through this process to eventually cover the entire Steelers roster.

First up are offensive tackles Troy Fautanu and Broderick Jones

Troy Fautanu

Position: Offensive Tackle
Years with the Steelers: 1
Years in the NFL: 1
Contract Status: Signed through 2027 with a possible 5th-year option
Contract Details: $3,421,658 salary cap hit for 2025. Would cost the Steelers $12,317,970 in dead money if released.
Games played in 2023: 1 regular season
Games started in 2023: 1 regular season
Snaps (regular season): 55 (offense)
PFF score: 64.4 (N/A ranking)
Notable stats: Fautanu had no penalties called on him in 2024. According to PFF he surrendered no sacks and two total QB pressures.

Notes: It has to go down as a disappointing rookie season for Troy Fautanu as he was not ready for Week 1 due to an injury during training camp and then was injured in practice following his one start ahead of Week 3. While there should be lots of hope for quality play from Fautanu, it really is an unknown for 2025. But in this case, banking on Fautanu being one of the starting tackles is what the Steelers should do after investing a first round pick on him last year. Ultimately 2025 starts strictly with his availability.

Broderick Jones

Position: Offensive Tackle
Years with the Steelers: 2
Years in the NFL: 2
Contract Status: Signed through 2026 with a possible 5th-year option
Contract Details: $4,534,463 salary cap hit for 2025. Would cost the Steelers $9,824,670 in dead money if released.
Games played in 2023: 17 regular season
Games started in 2023: 16 regular season
Snaps (regular season): 1073 (offense), 78 (special teams)
PFF score: 58.7 (65th of 81)
Notable stats: Jones had 10 penalties called on him in 2024, two of which were declined or offsetting. According to PFF he surrendered 10 sacks and 43 total QB pressures.

Notes: I think it’s safe to say that Jones regressed in 2024 from where he was trending at the end of his rookie year last season. The biggest issue is where Jones came in to start the year where he was nowhere close to the player that he was when he finished 2023. It took him all season to get back to where he was the year before. The biggest thing Jones must do, regardless of which side of the line he ends up playing, is he must enter training camp in a much better place to pick up where this past season ended, if not better.

Make sure you check back each day for another set of exit interviews.