The Steelers are now back at the UPMC Rooney Sports Complex, facing down a long regular season that looks a lot more promising given how things have gone leading up to it. Finishing just above .500 last year, they anticipate being able to compete with any team in the league this season with second-year QB Kenny Pickett leading the way.
They’ve done a great deal to address what they identified as their shortcomings during the offseason, which included addressing the offensive and defensive lines as well as the secondary and the inside linebacker room, which is nearly entirely different from last year. The results have been positive so far.
Even well into the regular season and beyond, there are going to be plenty of questions that need answered. When will the core rookies get to play, or even start? Is the depth sufficient where they upgraded? Can they stand toe-to-toe with the Bengals and the other top teams in the league? We’ll try to frame the conversation in relevant ways as long as you stick with us throughout the season, as we have for many years.
Question: Can the Steelers afford to put Broderick Jones back on the bench again?
Though it may have come by unconventional means, rookie first-round pick Broderick Jones has now started two of the Steelers’ first eight games. The first was at left tackle in Week Five against the Baltimore Ravens, due to Dan Moore Jr. being injured. The second was last night, starting at right tackle for Chukwuma Okorafor for what the latter indicated was disciplinary reasons—and possibly a permanent one.
While Okorafor reportedly said that he hoped to return to the starting lineup for the team’s next game, he also was not sure that he would. The veteran is in the second year of a three-year extension, now in his sixth NFL season overall and his fourth as a starter.
With two games of quality work under his belt as a starter, the Steelers may not be able to get the toothpaste back in the tube even if they want to. Head coach Mike Tomlin acknowledged after the game that Jones was “deserving of the opportunity” that he got, and he did not get that due to injury.
While he claims to be comfortable on both sides of the line, Jones is vastly more experienced playing left tackle. Nevertheless, on a first pass, he seems to have held up just fine starting on the right side. He, and the rest of the team, didn’t give up a sack, and they ran for over 150 yards.
The long-term expectation is for him to be the starting left tackle. It is possible that Moore ends up losing his job rather than Okorafor, even though it was the latter who was benched for this game, especially if that was truly for a disciplinary reason.
One way or another, Jones is going to be starting at left tackle at some point no later than the beginning of the 2024 season, so if it happens before then, it could hardly be deemed a surprise. The Steelers already put him back on the bench once after a quality start. I think they’ll find it much harder to pull off a second time.
