When the Pittsburgh Steelers drafted left tackle Broderick Jones in the first round of the 2023 NFL Draft, many people penciled him in as a Day One starter. In fact, if you look at the Steelers’ ESPN depth chart (granted, it’s guesswork), he is listed as the starting left tackle. However, it certainly is not guaranteed that he will be the starter come Week One and it’s highly unlikely he is the starter come training camp next month.
Today, Jones met with the media after the last day of mandatory mini camp and was asked how he views the left tackle competition.
“Man, it’s tough man,” Jones said in audio provided by 93.7 The Fan. “It’s tough but it’s good because I need that push, I need that motivation, I need that extra work to make me better for the team and for the guys. So, at the end of the day it’s doing nothing but getting me better. I don’t shy away from it, I run towards it and just continue to work.”
Jones is 100% the future left tackle of the Steelers; there is a reason they traded up to draft him. But incumbent left tackle Dan Moore Jr. showed a lot of improvement last season, and he is only going into his third year in the NFL. Given his improvement and youth, and Jones’ rawness it is no guarantee he loses the job this year. Jones is very young and only played 19 games at left tackle in college. For a position that is very technique driven, he simply might not be ready by Week One.
The Steelers aren’t a team that just gifts rookies starting positions, look at last year with quarterback Kenny Pickett. Jones will have to earn it and so far he has acknowledged it has been a challenge. As stated before, Jones is raw and is now learning a difficult and unique technique taught by offensive line coach Pat Meyer. In addition Moore is no slouch, which will make the competition tough.
Jones isn’t going to rest on his laurels, and he will fight as hard as he can to win the job. The good news is that if he wins it, it means he is the better player. Training camp should be fun to watch as Jones will have to go against the likes of Alex Highsmith day in and day out. This will only make him a better player, even if he fails early.
As Jones said, the competition is tough, but years down the line we may look back and see how much this helped Jones become a franchise left tackle.
