These things have a funny way of working themselves out. That’s what Dave Bryan always says about any sort of competitive spot. Many were disappointed to see first-round OT Broderick Jones start the season on the bench. He didn’t stay there for long. In Week One, he logged four snaps. In Week Four, he played the majority of the game after Dan Moore Jr. suffered a right knee injury in the first quarter.
Mike Tomlin ruled Moore out for this weekend’s game, meaning Broderick Jones will earn his first NFL start Sunday against the Baltimore Ravens. Asked to evaluate Jones’ play so far, Tomlin offered a positive report.
“I think he’s been practicing really well,” Tomlin said via the Steelers’ YouTube channel. “I feel really good about what he’s done to tee up his performance from a practice perspective. The amount of urgency that he has, the quality of his play. He’s gotten his feet wet now.
“I thought the quality of his play improved over the course of the game. Oftentimes, when you get inserted into a game like that, you gotta get on a moving train. And you feel some of that. That was evident. I think he gave up a pressure on his first snap. But I thought he got better throughout, and I think it’s reasonable to expect him to be really solid with a week’s prep.”
Jones logged 51 snaps in Sunday’s loss to the Texans, all at left tackle. As Tomlin said, his first snap was one of his roughest, coming in cold off the bench, appearing to overset and give up the inside. It got his quarterback crushed.
The rest of the game may have been better, as Tomlin suggested, but it still wasn’t a marquee performance. Jones was graded out as one of the worst tackles of Week Four and the worst of any rookie.
In Jonathan Heitritter’s tape breakdown, he concluded on Jones:
“Jones also displayed the skill set that made him a tantalizing prospect as a run blocker Sunday against Houston, opening several big holes that both Harris and Warren exploited for big runs. It wasn’t a great debut for Jones, who was thrown into the fire and had to see his quarterback go down. It wasn’t awful either as his play matched Dan Moore Jr. from what we’ve seen in pass protection from him this season and likely surpassed Moore’s play as a run blocker.”
Jones’ man, DE Jonathan Greenard, was the player who sacked and injured Kenny Pickett on the team’s failed fourth-down play. But that play isn’t Jones’ fault. Pickett scrambled to his left and changed the junction point, the angle Jones needs to block the defender, and there was little he could do.
In watching the tape, Jones got a good push in the run game. But he struggled with his hands and technique in pass protection, too often letting defenders get into his chest, and he didn’t win with significant first contact enough on his punch.
With Moore ruled out, Jones knows immediately he’s starting this weekend. That gives him ample reps and time to prepare as the starter, able to focus solely on the Ravens’ rushers from that side of the line. A raw rookie with just 19 career starts, Jones wasn’t expected to be Day One ready. But he’s now the starter. Meaning, he must grow up fast. Welcome to Steelers-Ravens week, rookie.
