Pittsburgh Steelers offensive tackle Broderick Jones had a really impressive outing in his first career start against the Baltimore Ravens, grading out with a 74.8 grade on PFF, which included a 77.2 run block grade and 67.0 pass block grade. Jones had sat behind Dan Moore Jr. to start the season, but with Moore out with a knee injury, the Steelers turned to Jones and he delivered. Offensive line coach Pat Meyer said Jones’ performance is going to lead to the Steelers needing to evaluate who the best fit to start is when Moore returns.
“Once Dan gets back, obviously we gotta evaluate everything. Dan played well when he was in there before the injury too. You look at, he played against [Nick] Bosa, he played against Myles Garrett, he played against Maxx Crosby. Put T.J. [Watt] in there, that’s your four best in the world. So the good thing is we got several guys that we’re confident that can give ‘em a game and play and not really lose much from in terms of performance-wise,” Meyer said via audio provided by the team.
Moore had a brutal slate of opposing edge rushers to open the season, but his performance wasn’t all that impressive. His PFF grade on the season is a brutal 29.3, but he’s only been charged with allowing one sack this season. Against that slate of pass rushers, that is an important statistic to look at. But he’s allowed consistent pressure, even if his opponent isn’t getting home to the quarterback.
Jones looked better, and it might be wise for the Steelers to consider starting him, even when Moore his healthy. Moore can serve as the team’s swing tackle, and Jones can continue to hone his craft as the Steelers look to develop him as their left tackle of the future. He looks like he’s getting more and more comfortable and is ready to go now, as his performance in Baltimore indicated, so it’s not just a future move if the Steelers do start Jones.
But they’re confident that Moore can get it done if they do turn back to him, but if they do, there’s no doubt that his leash is going to be shorter after seeing what Jones is capable of. We don’t have a clear timetable for Moore’s return, so it’s possible he’s not ready to go when the team returns from its bye, but the fact he hasn’t gone on injured reserve makes it seem as if the injury is a shorter-term thing.
He already missed the game against Baltimore, and with no game this week he could return in Week Seven against the Los Angeles Rams. If that’s the case, the Steelers’ evaluation process is going to need to be quick to determine who should start in the event that Moore is ready to go.
I think most people would rather see Jones start, given the draft capital invested in him and how well he played against Baltimore. But if Pittsburgh thinks Moore is going to give them the better chance to win and play consistently well, they’ll turn back to the man who won the job in the preseason. It’s going to be an interesting decision and one that could have a pretty big impact on how the rest of the season plays out for the Steelers.
