Steelers’ Dan Moore has been 'unbelievable teammate,' but won’t give up job without fight

Some on the outside predicted Broderick Jones would be anointed a starting job immediately.

Others from afar have thought he would be a first-teamer by the start of the Pittsburgh Steelers’ minicamp.

Most assumed Jones taking Dan Moore Jr.’s job at left tackle is inevitable. But now that minicamp is over, there is no indication Moore has been surpassed. In fact, Moore’s stature within the organization and among his coaches and teammates seems to be as esteemed as ever.

“Dan’s been unbelievable throughout this whole experience,” offensive line coach Pat Meyer said this week.

“He’s improved as much as anyone I’ve been around.”

Moore is holding on to the job he has held the past two years: the Steelers’ No. 1 left tackle. He has maintained that job status throughout three weeks of organized team activities and the three-day mandatory minicamp that concluded Thursday.

There’s no reason to believe Moore won’t be there, too, on July 27 at Saint Vincent when the Steelers hold their next practice, at the start of training camp.

“It’s a competition,” Meyer said Wednesday. “Which is good, and they know it. It’s good for them to compete, because if you don’t have anybody to compete with, then you get a little complacent.”

Speaking a day after his position coach did, Moore sounded a lot like Meyer when he said, “Competition is what fuels teams.”

“You know, it’s what makes groups better,” Moore added. “It’s what brings people to rise to their potential, so I am just excited to get better every single day and be a part of it.”

Moore has started 34 of the Steelers’ 35 games (including playoffs) since he was drafted in the fourth round out of Texas A&M in 2021. Aside from missing the 2021 season finale in Baltimore because of an ankle injury, Moore has missed just 16 offensive snaps since he entered the league. That includes every offensive snap last season.

But conventional wisdom is that — barring injury — he might not play any offensive snaps in 2023 after the Steelers traded up to take Jones with the 14th pick in the April draft.

However, all accounts are Moore has been a model teammate and mentor for Jones.

“The day we drafted Broderick, he has been nothing but helpful to Broderick,” Meyer said. “After practice, he’s taking Broderick over there. He’s having him take sets on air and doing things with him and teaching him how to work different techniques that we do.

“He has been nothing but a godsend in that, but at the same time he has the approach that, ‘I’m gonna win this job.’ Which, that’s a true pro. That’s what you want. That’s the guys you want to coach, guys who aren’t selfish in terms of we are going to help the young guys out, but at the same time, ‘I’m not going to give anything up. I’m going to compete, and I am going to do the best I can to be one of the guys.’”

It was confirmed at one point during OTAs that Moore was taking some reps on the right side, a possible sign a demotion to the backup “swing tackle” was coming. But that talk cooled as the spring workouts came to a close.

“I guess you could say a little extra competition fuels the fire, for sure,” Moore said. “But you have got to have that drive within.”

Moore, make no mistake, wants to continue serving as the Steelers’ top left tackle. But as much as he acknowledges the ambition of the competitor inside of him, Moore also sounds genuine in that he understands he can bring value to the Steelers in other ways.

That includes mentoring Jones and fostering the talented young tackle’s transition into the league.

“That’s the type of person I strive to be,” Moore said. “I mean, at the end of the day, the goal is to be a good teammate. That’s what I want guys to say about me. That’s what I want my reputation and legacy to be left as is as a good teammate, so that’s what I try to achieve every day.”

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