Before Saturday’s Pittsburgh Steelers practice at Saint Vincent College, Mike Tomlin addressed the crowd. He took a moment to introduce two-time Super Bowl champion defensive end Aaron Smith on the day it was announced that he was getting inducted into the Steelers Hall of Honor.

He also jokingly referred to Smith as “Cam Heyward’s professional father.” Heyward got drafted in 2011 as a defensive end, the same year that would prove to be Smith’s swan song in Black and Gold.

Tomlin’s quip got a chuckle and a bit of an eye roll from Heyward on the practice field. But it was something that Smith had just finished talking about with the media about an hour earlier.

It’s the concept of training someone else to potentially take your own job.

“When Brett Keisel came, he was supposed to replace me. When Chris Combs came, he was supposed to replace me. Ziggy Hood was supposed to replace me. Not once did I feel like sabotaging them,” Smith said. “My mentality was, I’m going to help you as much as I can because you are going to push me and make me better. I always said to Keisel, ‘Try to take my job.’ You being better is going to make me better and make us better as a team.”

That’s something Smith said Kimo von Oelhoffen did for him when he was a young defensive lineman.

“It’s the Steelers culture,” Heyward said. “Not hiding secrets. Build the best team. Not the best player.”

The newest player to be thrust into that role of mentoring the guy who could be supplanting him on the depth chart is Dan Moore. The third-year offensive tackle is still getting first-team reps on the left side. But it is widely presumed that, eventually, that job will be taken over by 2023 first-round pick Broderick Jones.

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Yet, Moore is doing whatever he can to make Jones a better player as they compete.

“We focus our time on bonding. I’ve kind of taken him under my wing. Just showing him the ropes and helping him learn the playbook a little bit. Because I know what it was like being a young guy coming in not knowing very much. Not knowing the offense,” Moore said Thursday.

Moore sees those actions as a way to pay forward what other linemen — specifically, Zach Banner — did for him when he was a rookie.

“Dan is a good guy. Ever since I stepped foot in Pittsburgh, Dan is the guy who talked to me the most,” Jones said on reporting day. “Dan, Chuks (Okorafor), Isaac (Seumalo), all of the older cats who have been in it for a while, they took me in — telling me things that I need to know. Things I need to stay away from. Things I need to do the most. … I’m just soaking up all the little nuggets I can from them.”

By all accounts, Moore is doing whatever he can to hold onto his job while at the same time making Jones better. During minicamp and organized team activities, offensive line coach Pat Meyer said Moore has “improved as much as anyone I’ve been around.”

Consider that a result of motivation after the team drafted Jones or just a desire to get better entering his third season. It doesn’t matter to Moore why people think he has improved. The only thing that matters to him is the confidence he is gaining as a result of the effort he put in this offseason.

“I put in a lot of work. Just building confidence (through) time and repetition. It’s just starting to show now,” Moore said. “Just being grounded with my feet in pass protection. That helped me anchor better and move people off the ball in the run game.”

Heyward is going up against Moore in practice quite a bit, and he thinks Moore’s improvement stems from even more than those technique points.

“His body looks completely different. He has really taken good care of it. He looks stronger, more fit,” Heyward said.

Through the first weekend of training camp, Moore has primarily worked with the first team at left tackle. Jones has gotten a few reps there. On Sunday, Okorafor was given a veteran’s day off, and Moore played his spot on the right side with Jones manning the left.

“It’s not about Chuks,” Tomlin said. “It’s about more exposure to some others. We don’t get an opportunity to elevate Broderick unless somebody’s minimized (for the day).”

If it’s a 50-50 call by the time camp ends, my inclination would be to start Jones. For as much improvement as Moore has made, the Steelers traded up to draft Jones for a reason. And I don’t think it was to incubate for a full year.

However, with the Steelers likely facing Nick Bosa (San Francisco), Myles Garrett (Cleveland) and Maxx Crosby (Las Vegas) as opposing pass rushers over the first three weeks of the season, I bet they’ll go with Moore’s experience.

In other words, if it’s an even competition by the end of the preseason, it really isn’t even. Moore has a leg up because he has 33 starts under his belt.

But those first three weeks will really be a showcase of how much Moore has actually improved. If that theory isn’t as evident when the ball is snapped and Jones proves himself close to being worthy as a starter in the preseason, Week 4 in Houston seems like a pretty logical spot for his starting debut.

Listen: Tim Benz speaks with Steelers offensive tackle Dan Moore

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