Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin was asked on Sunday what rookie left tackle Broderick Jones looked like thus far. “Ask me Tuesday” was his response, indicating a desire to see him working with pads on. Well, he gave Jones a “So far, so good” assessment on Wednesday, so you can’t ask for too much more than that for now.
Yet time is of the essence because the first-round pick is in a battle with Dan Moore Jr. for the starting left tackle job. And he’s putting in every effort, including extra effort, not necessarily for the specific purpose of winning the job but for the sake of growing and getting better.
“I like when we stay after practice to get those extra reps because every rep counts”, he told reporters yesterday, via the team’s website. “It’s just mentally. What it is for us is all mental, so after practice getting in those mental reps, just figuring out what works for you, working on things that don’t as much, just trying to hone in on your skills”.
Jones did not arrive in Pittsburgh as the most polished and NFL-ready tackle prospect. He only started 19 games for the Georgia Bulldogs, most of that coming last season, albeit during consecutive national championship runs.
While he has a tremendous amount of talent, and his physicality is obvious on film, there are elements of his game that need to be worked on before the coaches would likely feel comfortable plugging him into the starting lineup.
Part of that is, as he talked about, simply repetition, getting those snaps under his belt, which is why he has been more than happy to put in the work after practice for that extra credit, so to speak. You need to see things to know how to react to them—it’s something former Steelers OT Alejandro Villanueva talked about a lot as he was growing into the position.
One thing Jones isn’t concerned about is his capacity to learn what he needs to learn as well as his ability to handle it all. “My mental’s good”, he said. “I worked on my mental a lot at the University of Georgia, so it’s just something to improve on. I don’t feel like I lack in that area, so it’s okay. It’s not bad”.
He also talked about how much he has already progressed in terms of his technique work and fundamentals. That is vital to not just his success, but his odds of winning a starting job. Moore isn’t going down in this thing without a fight, that’s for certain.
