As the NFL Draft gets bigger and bigger, players are focusing more on telling draft night stories from their perspective. Pittsburgh Steelers first-round pick Broderick Jones is the team’s most recent example with a production crew attending the offensive tackle’s house to capture the sights and scenes from Day One of last month’s draft.
As posted late last week by GOAT Farm Media, Jones’ draft experience was followed from early Thursday throughout the night. As you’ll see linked in full below, the day starts off with him getting dressed, with friends and family talking about Jones’ long football journey to reach the NFL’s doorstep.
“We’ve been on a ride together,” his mother Tawana says. “It hasn’t been easy. We lost his dad at an early stage of his life. It’s been me, him, his sister and brother and my parents.”
Jones’ father died following a long battle with an undisclosed illness when he was six years old.
Cameras capture the entirety of his draft night, a living room full of people who have supported him over the years. Jones came out of Lithonia High School as a top recruit, committing to Georgia early in high school and maintaining that commitment throughout.
Just over five minutes into the video, you can see Jones get the call from Pittsburgh that the Steelers were trading up to select him. It makes only the fourth player Pittsburgh’s traded up for in Round One since 2000, with Jones joining SS Troy Polamalu in 2003, WR Santonio Holmes in 2006, and ILB Devin Bush in 2019.
As you’d expect, Jones’ family and friends go wild after he gets off the phone with the team. They waited to hear commissioner Roger Goodell make the announcement that was met with another wave of excitement. It’s not lost on me that a Steelers hat sat almost directly behind Jones, too.
There’s also a sweet moment of Jones embracing with his grandfather, emotional in the moment, as he tells the camera “Y’all get ready.”
Jones himself was emotional in the moment as he hugged friends and family who helped him along the way.
“It’s an amazing feeling,” Jones said. “Hearing my name called. Having my family here with me. All my supporters, all of them in one house at one time. It’s crazy.”
Though every player is excited just to get drafted, one of Jones’ final remarks was about the chance to play for Mike Tomlin in Pittsburgh.
“I heard Coach Mike Tomlin, man, my heart dropped,” he said “I love the way he coaches. I love his style of coaching. I love his style of football they play in Pittsburgh. I think I’ll fit right in. Just ready to get to work.”
Given their heavy pre-draft interest, it’s probably not a shock to Jones that the Steelers were the team who took him. Pittsburgh attended his Pro Day workout, meeting with him for dinner the night before, and brought him in for a pre-draft visit weeks ahead of the draft.
Jones has already gone through his first six NFL practices, the team’s three-day rookie minicamp followed by his first three OTA practices last week. He’ll have another three weeks of OTAs and minicamp before a six-week layoff that will lead into his first NFL training camp.
It’s a heartfelt and well-produced look at Jones’ draft-day experience, one built on plenty of hard work that’s finally paid off. Check out the full episode below.
