Pittsburgh Steelers T Broderick Jones lost his starting job this past week, the team starting Troy Fautanu in his place. He did rotate in on the third series in Denver but played so poorly that head coach Mike Tomlin had to pull him. To his credit, he didn’t sulk after the game but rather faced the media and fielded their questions candidly.
There is some debate over whether he managed to say the right things though. The comment that stuck out was Jones saying that he feels if he wasn’t going to start, he shouldn’t have played at all. Some took that in ways he didn’t intend, and he clarified those comments yesterday.
“It wasn’t nothing personal”, Jeff Hathhorn of 93.7 The Fan quotes Broderick Jones as saying Thursday. “I felt like for me, this is the NFL. If somebody is not hurt or something like that, I feel like someone should be able to get in a groove and continue to just play throughout the game”.
Tomlin planned to rotate Jones in for Fautanu every third series or so during the game, but there are reasons that offensive linemen don’t like that. More than any position, the offensive line is a cohesive unit that needs to have a firm rapport. If you’re swapping players in and out during the game, it could tamper with that rhythm. That’s why defensive linemen regularly rotate and offensive linemen don’t.
Broderick Jones seemed perfectly capable of assessing his own quality of play, offering a blunt self-assessment. He understands that he is not where he needs to be from a production standpoint and must work to get there.
While he started the season opener at right tackle, the Steelers intend for Jones to be their long-term left tackle. At this moment, however, he is not one of their two best tackles. So for now, he is on the bench. At least, he is not starting though perhaps they have some other ideas.
The Steelers traded up from 17 to 14 to select Broderick Jones in the first round of the 2023 NFL Draft. While he failed to beat out Dan Moore Jr. for the left tackle job as a rookie, he started the majority of that season at right tackle.
Of note is the fact that Jones is dealing with some injuries, and he is wearing an elbow brace. Without further details, we can’t say to what degree that is affecting his play, but he hasn’t missed any practice. And he certainly hasn’t used injuries as an excuse.
While he is going through a rough stretch right now, I think long-term concerns are premature. Speaking personally, I remain confident that he will be the Steelers’ starting left tackle for years to come. Once he settles in, people will forget about these early issues.
