The Steelers are now back at the UPMC Rooney Sports Complex, facing down a long regular season that looks a lot more promising given how things have gone leading up to it. Finishing just above .500 last year, they anticipate being able to compete with any team in the league this season with second-year QB Kenny Pickett leading the way.
They’ve done a great deal to address what they identified as their shortcomings during the offseason, which included addressing the offensive and defensive lines as well as the secondary and the inside linebacker room, which is nearly entirely different from last year. The results have been positive so far.
Even well into the regular season and beyond, there are going to be plenty of questions that need answered. When will the core rookies get to play, or even start? Is the depth sufficient where they upgraded? Can they stand toe-to-toe with the Bengals and the other top teams in the league? We’ll try to frame the conversation in relevant ways as long as you stick with us throughout the season, as we have for many years.
Question: Will the Steelers put Broderick Jones back on the bench?
It was assumed when the Steelers traded up in the first round to draft Broderick Jones that the day he entered the starting lineup, there would be no looking back. Though he made his first NFL start before the bye week, it’s too early to say when his next one will be.
That first start came about because of starting LT Dan Moore Jr. suffering an MCL sprain, but after one missed game and the bye week, he expects to be ready to play on Sunday. While he couldn’t say at this point if he would start, he did acknowledge to reporters on Monday that he took first-team reps in practice.
While that is not to say he will definitely start, I don’t think anybody would be surprised if the Steelers do go back to Moore, who up to this point in his career has started every single game for which he has been healthy over the past two-plus seasons.
Jones did technically start a game, but he did not enter the starting lineup, per se. He only started due to injury as part of his role as the Steelers’ swing tackle. But everybody understood from the moment he was drafted that he was the future. And by all accounts, he seemed to handle himself well when he played.
If the coaching staff does decide to go back to Moore, one would have to wonder when Jones might finally take over the job. It’s not as though Moore has distinguished himself through his play in the first four games he started—or in his first two seasons.
Presumably, Jones has already shown, by and large, what he is capable of doing as a rookie. He has the bulk of two games worth of playing time, including one full game for which he prepared as a starter. They are already past the bye week as well, so if he is not going to be the full-time starter now, then when?
