The Pittsburgh Steelers made a splash today on draft night, trading up from 17 to 14 to get their guy. Their guy is Broderick Jones, a tackle from Georgia, to help continue to build a brick wall in front of young franchise quarterback Kenny Pickett.
While speaking to the media after the team’s first-round pick of the 2023 NFL Draft, streamed on the Steelers YouTube page, head coach Mike Tomlin was asked what he learned from Jones when the two had dinner together at Georgia’s Pro Day.
“He’s got a competitors’ mentality,” Tomlin said. “He’s wired right for this line of work, he’s got a desire to be great, he’s highly competitive. There’s a reason why he put himself in that environment. He’s been a part of a winner, he understands that we are in the winning business. He values that, he’s experienced that. Sometimes you can’t really value that unless you’ve been a part of it and obviously the run that university has been on with their football program…they’ve won about as much as you can win over the time that he’s spent playing a significant role for them.”
Jones got to Georgia in 2020 but did not play much his first year. His first year of significant action came in 2021 when Georgia won the national championship with Jones playing on the offensive line. For his play in 2021 he was named to the Coaches Freshman All-SEC team.
Jones followed up a national championship and great freshman year with an even better, year. Jones secured his role at left tackle in 2022 and was named to the AP All-SEC first team as he anchored the left side of Georgia’s line and helped the Bulldogs win a second-straight national championship.
As Tomlin said, Jones has a winning mentality. Ever since he played significant snaps at Georgia it started to win. He will be bringing that winning pedigree to Pittsburgh as he competes with Dan Moore Jr. for the starting job at left tackle.
Even if he can’t edge out Moore Jr. this year, Jones has a ton of potential and can be a cornerstone piece for a long time if he develops properly. At only 21-years-old, Jones has a long time until he hits his peak as a player. If you see how he improved from his freshman year at Georgia to his sophomore year, it seems like the sky is the limit.
Pittsburgh wants to build a picket fence in front of Kenny Pickett, and with drafting Broderick Jones, the fence is almsiot complete.
