Would Broderick Jones be an immediate starter as a rookie for the Pittsburgh Steelers? That was one of the driving questions of the offseason, as would be expected when you trade up into the top half of the first round to draft a left tackle.
Several months flew by, however, and the Steelers opened the regular season with Dan Moore Jr. at left tackle. Now, suddenly, Jones is taking his first reps of the offseason at right tackle, though that comes only after RT Chukwuma Okorafor suffered a concussion and is in the protocol.
As it stands, it’s not entirely clear what that means, as they didn’t work him there at all before now, and Moore moved over to right tackle in-game when Okorafor went out in the opener. Is it a good sign that Okorafor will be ready for Monday? Is it a bad sign, indicating that they know they need to start preparing Jones now to start there? Either way, Moore is pleased with how the rookie has looked over there — offering that Jones is handling it better than he did.
“He seems a lot more natural at right than I do, but I don’t think it’s that much of a transition for him. He seems to be taking it on a lot better than I was”, Moore said in assessing how the rookie looked playing on the opposite side during practice, via the team’s website.
It’s worth noting that while he was exclusively a left tackle in-game during his time with the Georgia Bulldogs, Jones was asked about his position flexibility coming out of the draft. He told reporters that at Georgia, because of depth issues, all of the tackles spent time playing both sides at every practice, so he felt comfortable playing on the right side if he needed to.
It is somewhat surprising that the Steelers never asked Jones to work on the right side at all in the event that he would not win a starting job. It seems as though they wagered that he could win it and in order to give him the best chance to do so, they kept him on the left side. But now he’s got to get his feet wet over there and—perhaps—is taking to it like a duck to water.
Whatever happens, Moore believes it is good for Jones in the long term. “I think it obviously helps his development as a young tackle”, he said. “For us, taking reps off of guys and being one snap away from playing if someone goes down, I think that’s huge as well”.
It could be huge this week, one way or another, if Okorafor is unable to clear the concussion protocol in time to be available for Monday’s game against the Browns. Jones would be forced into the starting lineup then—but where? On the right side? On the left?
