Dan Moore Jr. fended off a first-round pick to hold on to the starting left tackle job for the Pittsburgh Steelers last season. He has been rewarded financially for doing so.
Moore was among the top 25 NFL players who were compensated the most from a league fund created to pay players who are largely low-earning (by NFL standards) but playing significant roles for a league team.
Moore earned $ 740,319 from the fund, the league announced Monday, part of a performance-based pay program borne out of the most recent collective bargaining agreement between the NFL and its players union that was implemented for the 2022 season.
A fourth-round pick in 2021, Moore earned “only” $940,000 in base salary last season, the third of a four-year rookie deal he signed after being drafted that in total is to pay him $4.178 million.
Moore started and played 16 of the Steelers’ 17 games last season, missing only most of a Oct. 1 loss to the Houston Texans and all of the following week’s home win against the Baltimore Ravens because of a knee injury.
Overall, $393.8 million was distributed to players via a formula that takes into account a player’s salary and his playing time. It is intended to reward lower-paid players who stay on the field in the most recently completed season.
Moore has started all but two of the Steelers games at left tackle since he joined the team. Though the Steelers drafted Broderick Jones with the 14th overall pick last season, Jones entered the lineup (aside from filling in for Moore against the Ravens) at right tackle.
The Steelers are expected to strongly consider drafting another tackle with a premium pick in the draft later this month.
In an interesting coincidence, Moore at 23rd ranked just ahead of San Francisco 49ers star quarterback Brock Purdy on the list of players who earned the most from the fund. Purdy, who started all season and helped the 49ers to the Super Bowl, was awarded $739,795.
Ravens guard John Simpson earned the highest amount, $974,613.
Signings official
Though it was revealed last week that each had agreed to terms, the Steelers on Monday formally announced the signings of four free agents: running back/receiver Cordarrelle Patterson, defensive tackle Dean Lowry, wide receiver Quez Watkins and quarterback Kyle Allen.
Lowry, who turns 30 in June, has started 84 games over eight prior NFL seasons. Last year he left the Green Bay Packers to join the Minnesota Vikings but appeared in only nine games because of a pectoral injury. He could slot in as fourth in the Steelers’ defensive lineman rotation.
Patterson has been honored first- or second-team AP NFL All-Pro kick returner in seven of his 11 seasons. He was signed shortly after the league announced it had modified its kickoff rules in an effort to spur more action on the play. Patterson entered the league as a wide receiver but saw his greatest success from scrimmage with the Atlanta Falcons from 2021-23 when new Steelers offensive coordinator Arthur Smith was calling plays as their head coach.
Watkins and Allen were signed for one year each. The speedy Watkins had 98 catches over the past four seasons for the Philadelphia Eagles and is expected to compete for a depth role in the offense. Allen, who served as the primary backup to Buffalo Bills star Josh Allen last season, has six seasons and 19 starts on his career NFL resume.
Chris Adamski is a TribLive reporter who has covered primarily the Pittsburgh Steelers since 2014 following two seasons on the Penn State football beat. A Western Pennsylvania native, he joined the Trib in 2012 after spending a decade covering Pittsburgh sports for other outlets. He can be reached at cadamski@triblive.com.