Steelers first-round pick wants to be 'the best in the game'

The Pittsburgh Steelers drafted offensive tackle Troy Fautanu with their first-round pick in the 2024 NFL Draft with the hopes of instantly upgrading their offensive line.

Pittsburgh gave the rookie a chance to prove he can do just that out the gate on Tuesday, slotting him in as the first-team offense's right tackle for most of practice.

Fautanu looked the part, as he has most of training camp, but he knows he is far from guaranteed the Week 1 starting job.

"Nothing's set in stone," Fautanu said . "It's just an opportunity for me to play big boy football. Going against the best now is only going to prepare me for whatever comes in the future."

Fautanu saying he gets to go up against the best isn't a stretch, either. The Steelers boast arguably the best edge-rusher room in the NFL with linebackers T.J. Watt, Alex Highsmith, Nick Herbig and Markus Golden.

"You have the best in the game with T.J. His game speaks for itself. Nick Herbig, he's speed demon off the edge," Fautanu added . "It's iron sharpening iron."

If Fautanu continues to hold his own against Pittsburgh's defense, it's not hard to imagine him in the starting lineup in about a month.

In the meantime, he's taking the small steps it will take to reach his goal of being the best player at his position in the league.

"At the end of the day, you've got to have confidence to where you wanna be the best in the game," Fautanu stated . "So that's my goal, but it's mini steps."

The Steelers are hoping that turns out to be the case for Fautanu in the long term, but he's just hoping he doesn't hold back the offensive line in the short term.

"I really feel like we fit well with a lot of these guys and just making sure that we're not pulling the group down, that we're elevating the game," Fautanu concluded .

The 6-foot-4, 317-pound offensive tackle gave up only three sacks in his college career despite playing 1,255 pass-blocking snaps, per Pro Football Focus .

All quotations obtained firsthand unless otherwise noted.