A lot has been made this offseason about the Pittsburgh Steelers’ left tackle battle between rookie Broderick Jones and incumbent Dan Moore Jr. With the battle raging into the latter part of training camp, Jones spoke with reporters and acknowledged that sitting behind Moore so far has been something he’s appreciated.
“I’m really not that big on just coming in and just jumping in with the ones right away,” Jones said in an interview posted to Steelers.com. “You know, I like to feel things out. I feel like it’s an asset for me just to sit back and watch somebody who’s older, who’s done it for years. So, just being able to sit back, watch like what works for [Moore], what doesn’t, you know, try and implement those small things into my game, I feel like that’s a plus.”
Moore has seen the most of the left tackle first-team reps so far during training camp and started at left tackle in the first preseason game. But Jones saw plenty of snaps (49) as he takes the huge leap from college to the NFL. Jones is certainly getting opportunities so far and is not squandering them by any means, but sitting behind Moore has only helped.
Jones started just 19 games at left tackle in college and coming into the NFL Draft this year was labeled as a raw prospect with a high ceiling. Because of this, letting him sit behind Moore, who has been very open and has helped Jones, might be a more beneficial strategy to help Jones reaching his ceiling than just throwing him in to start right away.
For how often Moore is scapegoated, he really isn’t an awful left tackle. While nowhere near elite, he is a capable left tackle and showed a ton of improvement down the stretch last year. That improvement Moore showed last year can be taught to Jones. Moore has gone out of his way to help Jones so far and in offensive line’s coach Pat Meyer’s complex system.
While Jones is the future at left tackle for Pittsburgh, he is admittedly a raw player. In Jonathan Heitritter’s tape breakdown, he showed how in his first preseason game, Jones still struggled with some of the technical aspects. But he also had some pretty good reps, which showed why he was taken at pick No. 14.
The Steelers have the luxury of not having to shove Jones into a starting role. The most important aspect in Year One is his development and sitting behind Moore. Leaning from him is part of that development. Obviously, Jones would love to start Week One, but even if he doesn’t he will still be able to learn and develop.
The competition isn’t close to being over, but no matter if Jones is getting reps with the “ones” or “twos,” he certainly is learning and perfecting his craft.
