For the second time this season, rookie T Broderick Jones showed the Pittsburgh Steelers exactly why they traded up in the first round to draft him. Making his first career start at left tackle on Thursday night after previously starting a game at left tackle, he put on tape what he needed to, even as he strives for consistency.
One observer who was particularly impressed is Brian Baldinger, who broke down some of Jones’ best plays from the Steelers’ last game against the Tennessee Titans, concluding that he was “fantastic in his debut at right tackle”.
Given where he was on the field, there was one player in particular who was his concern, though perhaps it was the other way around. “He literally made Harold Landry disappear”, Baldinger said as he showed Jones run the defender up the arc on one pass play. “You can’t run a defensive end any further away from the quarterback”.
Landry was only credited with one assisted tackle during the game, as well as a quarterback hit, though it wasn’t Jones who allowed that hit. The line as a group only allowed four pressures on the entire night, according to Pro Football Focus, with Jones and James Daniels at right guard in particular excelling in true pass sets.
The rookie was also known for his combination of physicality and athleticism during his college career with the Georgia Bulldogs, and he got to display that in the running game. Baldinger showed one clip of him washing Landry down the line, describing it as “throw[ing] him right into the laundry bin”.
Another thing that got him excited was seeing the Steelers use Jones as a puller, something that is less common from the tackle position. Pittsburgh did that a little bit with Alejandro Villanueva, but it was never a staple the way they’re possibly envisioning now.
“It opens up a whole new part of the playbook”, Baldinger said, when you have an offensive tackle who can be so mobile. And he found Jones’ performance to be uniformly positive overall, describing it as “just one good play after another”.
Other outlets such as Pro Football Focus weren’t quite as charitable, giving Jones a 58.8 overall grade with 63.2 in pass protection and 53.7 in run blocking. My eyes don’t exactly agree with that, but he’s still a young player striving to get better.
There is the matter of consistency, but given that he was playing right tackle, where he’s never started a game even in college, and where he hadn’t been practicing, and doing so with basically just two days of practice, is really quite commendable and merits grading somewhat on a curve.
“Everybody benefited” from Jones being in the game, Baldinger concluded, noting that the run game was the best it’s looked all year. Jones featured on some of those best runs, including Najee Harris’ longest run of the season, as well as his touchdown run. If he can help deliver those plays, he can be forgiven for an occasional lapse while he gains experience.
