The plan was for Pittsburgh Steelers rookie left tackle Broderick Jones to be brought along slowly, especially after entering the NFL with limited experience at the University of Georgia.
You know what they say about planning in professional sports though.
With veteran right tackle Chukwuma Okorafor in concussion protocol coming out of the 30-7 loss to the San Francisco 49ers at Acrisure Stadium, Jones — who played just four snaps in the season opener at left tackle — finds himself potentially in line to make his first start in the NFL on Monday Night Football against the Cleveland Browns.
Should he start at left tackle with Dan Moore Jr. sliding over to right tackle, Jones’ first starting NFL experience will come against arguably the best pass rusher in football, that being Cleveland’s Myles Garrett.
Talk about trial by fire.
Though Jones knows what lies ahead of him from a difficulty standpoint, the former Georgia standout is embracing the opportunity, aiming to make the most of his chance as a starter, should that be the case in Week Two.
“Still gotta make the best of my opportunity. At the end of the day, I just gotta play as best as I can,” Jones said told reporters Monday regarding potentially starting and facing Garrett in Week Two, via Steelers.com. “Hold up as best as I can for the team, ’cause at the end of the day they’re dependent on me and I’m depending on them. So, if it comes down to it, I’m just go out there and play to the best of my ability.”
It could be quite the opportunity for Jones as Garrett will ride into Acrisure Stadium coming off of a dominant Week One performance against the Cincinnati Bengals. Garrett recorded a Pro Football Focus grade of 89.9 overall in the Week One win, registering a sack and recording an absurd 0.44 second get-off, which measures how quickly a player fires out of his stance.
Garrett, according to NFL researched Ben Fennell via Next Gen Stats, led the league in average get-off time last season at 0.69 seconds. He’s a freakish combination of speed and power and is a nightmare for offensive linemen, especially with defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz getting a bit more creative with the former No. 1 overall pick, moving him all over the formation to find mismatches.
The Cleveland star generated six pressures in addition to the sack against the Bengals, garnering a 90.3 pass rush grade. Getting the chance to go against Jones would be quite a matchup advantage for Garrett. Jones would undoubtedly have help, likely in the form of fellow rookie tight end Darnell Washington — should Jones be called upon to start.
In his four snaps against the San Francisco 49ers, Jones graded out at a 63.1 overall, including an impressive 79.8 overall in pass protection. It’s just four snaps though, so it’s nothing to really draw a conclusion from. That said, he now has NFL experience entering what could be his first career start, which is a positive overall.
We’ll see what the injury report looks like this week regarding the Steelers and Okorafor’s status. If Jones is called upon, it will be a tough test right out of the chute. But he’s aiming to take advantage of the opportunity and hold up the best he can for the Steelers.
