With LT Dan Moore Jr. officially ruled out of Sunday game against the Baltimore Ravens with a knee injury, OT Broderick Jones is set to get his first career start in the National Football League.
Many thought that Jones would win the starting job out of training camp, coming in as the Steelers’ brand new first-round draft pick, a player they had traded up for to usurp Moore. That wasn’t the case, however, as Moore, who has had a shaky start to his NFL career as the team’s starting left tackle, earned a vast majority of the reps in training camp and outplayed the rookie in the preseason. He looked improved from a season ago after working on his body to add more functional mass to his frame and come into 2023 in better shape.
Still, Moore underwhelmed once the regular season got underway, getting exposed Week One against the San Francisco 49ers, grading out as the worst offensive tackle in the league, finishing 75th out of 75 qualifiers with a 33.7 overall grade, according to Pro Football Focus. The schedule didn’t get an easier for Moore as he faced the Cleveland Browns in Week Two, and while he didn’t allow a sack of Kenny Pickett to EDGE Myles Garrett, Garrett still got the better of Moore throughout the matchup.
Moore did a decent job for the most part against the Raiders in Week Three, but currently sits with a 29.3 overall grade from PFF before leaving the Texans’ game early in the fourth quarter with a knee injury that is keeping him out of this week’s matchup against the Ravens. To put it nicely, Moore hasn’t been great to the point of convincing Pittsburgh that he can be the long-term answer moving forward.
Enter Broderick Jones, who had an up-and-down performance himself against the Texans in his first extended NFL action. He did surrender a sack on which Pickett got hurt as well as a few quarterback hits, but his pass protection appeared to get better as the game wore on. He also provided quality play as a run blocker, springing big runs for both Najee Harris and Jaylen Warren.
Jones figures to see a combination of EDGEs Jadeveon Clowney, Kyle Van Noy, and Tavius Robinson on Sunday. It will be a tough test for the rookie going against veterans like Van Noy and Clowney. But should Jones represent himself well against Baltimore on Sunday, he could set himself up to remain the starting offensive tackle for the Steelers moving forward.
Pittsburgh didn’t trade up in the first round to select Jones just to keep him on the bench his entire rookie season. They wanted to ease him in slowly, allowing him to get a handle on the playbook and the speed of the NFL game before throwing him into the fire against a gauntlet of All-Pro pass rushers to start the year. It’s a similar process that Pittsburgh had with Pickett last season. Mitch Trubisky started the season at quarterback, but the Steelers ended up making the change to Pickett in Week Four against the New York Jets at halftime when Trubisky continued to struggle after a shaky first three weeks begin to the year.
It’s a similar story for Jones and Moore as the latter has struggled his first three weeks as well. However, Jones got put into the lineup due to Moore getting injured rather than a flat-out benching. Still, Jones got into the game and didn’t look any worse than Moore did. He arguably was better than Moore as a run blocker against the Texans than what Moore has showed thus far during the regular season, pairing with rookie TE Darnell Washington to create some nice running lanes to spark the rushing attack in the second half.
As long as Jones doesn’t fall flat on his face against the Ravens, I would keep him in at left tackle going forward, even if Moore is healthy to play following the team’s bye week. Jones was drafted to be this team’s starting left tackle of the future whereas Moore was drafted in the fourth round to be a developmental tackle who was initially supposed to be the swing guy for Chukwuma Okorafor and Zach Banner back in 2021.
Going back to Moore would just delay Jones from getting live reps in-stadium against NFL competition, something that he needs to continue working on his hands in pass protection. The Steelers may normally prefer playing their veterans over their rookies, but now is time for them to hand the keys over to Jones and let him show he can be the player they drafted him to be.
