Steelers believe they landed 'top 10' talent in Washington's Troy Fautanu

The Steelers were one of several teams who benefited from the early run on quarterbacks in the first round of the 2024 NFL Draft.

On Thursday night, six quarterbacks were selected in the first 12 picks of the first round, and as a result, many highly regarded players fell further than expected.

Pittsburgh believes it landed one of those players at pick No. 20, drafting Washington offensive tackle Troy Fautanu.

In fact, the Steelers had Fautanu "rated among their top 10 players," according to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette's Gerry Dulac.

Some may not view Fautanu as a top-10 talent, but Pittsburgh wasn't the only one shocked that Fautanu was still available. ESPN draft analyst Mel Kiper Jr. also thinks the team got a steal in the 6-foot-4, 317-pound offensive tackle.

"What a steal by Pittsburgh. I wrote Thursday morning that I thought the Steelers were targeting Graham Barton to be their new center, but I didn't think Fautanu would be available," Kiper Jr. writes. "This is a no-brainer. I had Fautanu at No. 10 and Barton at No. 19 in my rankings."

Dulac added that the Steelers would have taken Barton or Oklahoma offensive tackle Tyler Guyton if Fautanu was off the board.

However, that may have been a reach as Barton was selected by the Buccaneers at No. 26 and Guyton was drafted by the Cowboys at No. 29.

It's safe to say Pittsburgh is over the moon to land Fautanu, who gave up only three sacks in his college career despite playing 1,255 pass-blocking snaps and will join 2023 first-round pick Broderick Jones as the team's bookends for many years to come.

"Every one of those 10 minutes were the longest 10 minutes of my life, I promise you that," general manager Omar Khan told reporters.

"He is not kidding you," head coach Mike Tomlin responded. "He wore me out."