THE APEX TIMES
In a mailbag-style Q&A on Nov. 3, Steelers media addressed how to say Troy Fautanu’s last name, why DK Metcalf’s production has dipped recently, and what players earn when they move between the active roster and the practice squad.
The Steelers received a question about how to pronounce Troy Fautanu’s last name, and the team’s in-house pronunciation guidance is “fao-TAWN-oo,” with all the vowels emphasized.
Another fan asked for clarity on Ben Skowronek and Michael Pittman Jr.’s availability. The Steelers’ Q&A noted that Skowronek worked during the week before being inactive against the Browns, making it “reasonable to expect” he could be in the mix by Nov. 15 in Cincinnati. For Pittman Jr., the answer was that he is on injured reserve and the bye week does not count toward the time he must miss before returning, with an expectation that he could return at some point.
The mailbag also looked at DK Metcalf and whether defenses are doubling him. The Steelers pointed to targets going into the Browns game, stating he had been targeted 58 times previously, then against Cleveland he was targeted six times and finished with one catch for four yards.
On roster mechanics, a question asked what compensation looks like when a player is elevated from the practice squad to the active roster and then returns. The answer described standard pay structure: a game check for any day the player is on the 53-man roster for a game, and week-based practice-squad pay when the player is on the practice squad for a game, with the exact amounts potentially varying by player experience.
Several other questions in the same Q&A covered topics such as player-to-fan outreach after Alejandro Villanueva’s retirement and the possible meaning of the quarterback helmet-tap during pre-snap looks.