Now that the Pittsburgh Steelers’ 2023 season is getting underway after the team finished above .500 but failing to make the postseason last year, we turn our attention to the next chapter of Steelers football and everything that entails. One thing that it means is that some stock evaluations are going to start taking on more specific contexts as we get into the season, reflecting more immediate plusses and minus rather than trends over long periods. The nature of the evaluation, whether short-term or long-term, will be noted in the reasoning section below.
Player: T Broderick Jones
Stock Value: Up
Reasoning: While it comes amid less-than-ideal circumstances, first-round pick Broderick Jones will be making his starting debut tomorrow against the Baltimore Ravens. It will be his first true test, the first opportunity for the Steelers and their fans to see if Jones is the real deal.
I think that any first-round pick’s first start is significant for that team. First-round picks are major investments, players that you have decided have the capacity to be a potential cornerstone for your franchise for years to come.
While that first game is not going to tell you a player’s entire story and show you what they will look like at the peak of their career, you should at least get an idea of what might be to come. That’s what makes tomorrow a significant day for the Steelers’ 2023 rookie class.
It will mark the first career start for Broderick Jones, the big left tackle out of Georgia. They traded up three spots in the first round down to 14 in order to land him. While the Steelers didn’t plug him into the starting lineup right away, that was as much to do with their confidence in Dan Moore Jr. as anything.
But with Moore currently sidelined due to a knee injury, Jones is the next man up. He already played extensively last week in a swing tackle capacity, coming off the bench, but it’s different when you’re actually preparing during the week to start a game.
Backups can talk all they want about how they practice and prepare as if they’re going to be starting because they’re one snap away, but it’s never the same. First of all, you’re not practicing with the starters, and that continuity is particularly important in a unit like the offensive line.
So, that makes this game extra significant. It could be the first of many, many consecutive starts for Jones. Or it could be just one mediocre start or worse before he relinquishes his spot back to Moore once the third-year man gets healthy. Time will tell. But the point is that now we get to find out.
