In his NFL debut Friday night against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, rookie left tackle Broderick Jones had his ups and downs.
That was to be expected. At just 21 years old and just 19 total games in college, Jones was exceptionally raw coming out of Georgia, so growing pains are normal for the first-round pick.
For former NFL offensive lineman and popular NFL analyst Brian Baldinger, while Jones showed some positives in his NFL debut, there’s a lot to work on moving forward and improve on. That comes with reps.
“I think he needs some work. And it was clear that they wanted to get him some work. Playing with different quarterbacks the other night playing with different guys next to him. Think it’s important for him just to see as much as he possibly can,” Baldinger said during an appearance on 93.7 The Fan with Ron Cook Tuesday. “‘Cause I think there’s some things…he really has to work on in his hands. You can’t start lunging on guys. You can’t drop your inside foot. I mean, just stuff that everybody has to learn and sometimes you gotta go play games to learn it.”
Coming out of the preseason matchup against the Buccaneers, it was a bit of a mixed bag for Jones. Baldinger was not the only one to critique the hand usage. NFL.com’s Chad Reuter highlighted the late hands from Jones in his piece handing out grades to rookies over the weekend, giving Jones a C-.
Jones played a team-high 49 snaps against the Buccaneers, giving him a ton of reps with the likes of Kevin Dotson, Nate Herbig and fellow rookie Spencer Anderson next to him at left guard.
The 49 snaps were 12 more than the next-closest Steeler, so from a conditioning standpoint, Jones seems to be in a good place, and he’s improved throughout training camp. That’s a great sign for the young rookie. There’s a difference between being in shape and being in NFL shape. Jones is in a good spot.
As Baldinger pointed out though when it comes to technique, he has work to do. That’s not a surprise, and the work only gets done with more reps and more playing time. Therefore, Jones could see a high number of snaps in the next two preseason games as the Steelers continue to develop him and get him up to speed.
Those reps might not be enough to help him pass Dan Moore Jr. on the depth chart though. He’ll continue battling Moore for the starting left tackle job. As of now, Moore remains the frontrunner, still seeing almost all the first-team left tackle reps this camp and playing just 10 snaps against the Buccaneers, which is all that the starting offense played in the win.
In his first NFL game, Jones didn’t have a dominant NFL debut, but he represented himself decently overall in his first exposure to live competition in a stadium environment. His technical issues that were on his college tape were still noticeable Friday night, but it was a good first step in the NFL at a premium position.
Work needs done though.
