Who will be the Pittsburgh Steelers starting left tackle this weekend? Right now, no one knows. No one outside the Steelers’ building at least. It’ll be either veteran Dan Moore Jr., returning from an MCL sprain, or rookie Broderick Jones, coming off his first start in a Week Five win over the Baltimore Ravens.
Speaking to reporters during his weekly press conference, Mike Tomlin did not commit to starting Moore at left tackle this weekend.
“That’s a big if,” Tomlin said when asked if Moore will start if he’s healthy enough to play. “We’ve got some work ahead of us. He’ll be given an opportunity to show his progress over the course of the week and we’ll make that decision at the appropriate time. It doesn’t behoove us to make hypothetical statements at the early portions of the week. He looked pretty good yesterday. We’ll see [where the] week leads us.”
Tomlin went on to say there’s no blanket policy of if a player can lose a starting job due to an injury and that it’s addressed on a “case-by-case” basis.
“I want to be fair to everyone. If [a rookie is a] quick learner and so forth, you don’t want to exclude them,” he said. “If they’re a veteran player that doesn’t require a lot of physical reps, you don’t want to exclude them.”
Moore told the media Monday that he is healthy and expects to dress for the Rams game, though he did not know if he would get the starting nod again. Moore opened the year as the team’s starting left tackle, taking his lumps against top pass rushers like San Francisco’s Nick Bosa, Cleveland’s Myles Garrett, and Las Vegas’ Maxx Crosby.
Tomlin also told reporters Moore looked “good” during yesterday’s practice and it appears he received a good share of first-team reps, though the exact division of labor between him and Jones is unclear. For what it’s worth, the Steelers’ updated depth chart still shows Moore as the starter.
After playing four snaps in Week One, Jones filled in for Moore early in the team’s Week Four loss to the Houston Texans. His play was shaky, but he was much better in his first start against the Ravens while protecting QB Kenny Pickett’s blindside.
Pittsburgh and Los Angeles will kick off Sunday at 4:05 PM/EST. By then, we’ll have an answer.
