First-round pick Broderick Jones made his first NFL start at right tackle in Week Nine for the Pittsburgh Steelers in their win over the Tennessee Titans. While Jones was expected to be the team’s long-term answer at left tackle, the opportunity to play on the right side presented itself after Chukwuma Okorafor was benched for comments he made at the end of the team’s Week Eight loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars. Jones performed well, and he could take over as the team’s starter going forward at the position. Offensive coordinator Matt Canada praised Jones’ readiness to be able to switch over to the right side in his press conference today.
“I thought he played well. I thought he did a good job, came in with energy,” Canada said via Amanda Godsey of The Tribune-Democrat on YouTube. “I thought he stepped up to the challenge. He’s played both sides, we had him on the left, I think that’s a real compliment to him that he jumped in there and played the right side on a short week. He plays with high energy, high emotion, thought that was a real positive of what he did. Played physical, lot of things to correct, but there always are.”
Despite being the team’s lowest-graded offensive lineman by Pro Football Focus with a 58.8 overall grade, Jones is a better run blocker than Okorafor. While he had some miscues, he generally performed well and the Steelers ran the ball the best they have all season. Both Jaylen Warren and Najee Harris exceeded 65 yards on the ground, and QB Kenny Pickett wasn’t sacked once.
The offensive line as a whole looked good, and Jones didn’t look unnatural at right tackle despite not having a lot of college reps at the position. Before last Thursday, he had played right tackle for just 34 snaps in his college career, with the last time he played it in-game coming when he had 25 snaps at the position in the 2021 season.
Without a normal week of practice to prepare for a start at a position that isn’t his usual, Jones looked good, and if he does continue to start at right tackle, he could help the offensive line take the same sort of step forward they did in the second half of the season last year. With Pickett struggling with accuracy issues, especially early in games, getting the run game established is going to be huge for the Steelers going forward. Jones holding down the right tackle position could be a major key to make that happen.
Watch the full Canada press conference below:
