Mike Tomlin isn’t guaranteeing Broderick Jones will start this weekend against the Green Bay Packers. But he’s not ruling it out either. After Jones started and played well in last Thursday’s win over the Tennessee Titans, Tomlin did not commit to a starting right tackle for this Sunday’s contest.
Speaking with reporters during his Tuesday press conference, he left the door open to keep Jones in the starting lineup over veteran Chukwuma Okorafor.
“I thought he did some really good things,” Tomlin told reporters. “I thought we did some really good things, and so it’s probably worthy of an extended look considering he did those things and we did those things on a short week. I’m not going all the way in, but we’ll probably take another look at him and see what it looks like this week.”
Jones got the surprise start on a short week on a side he has less experience playing. After the game, Okorafor told reporters he was benched for something he said at the end of the Jacksonville Jaguars’ game that evidently put him in Tomlin’s doghouse. At today’s presser, Tomlin said that action was a “significant’ factor in benching Okorafor.
In our tape study, Jones more than held his own. He was a strong run blocker who made plays out in space while his pass sets were clean. As Tomlin noted, the team had overall success against the Titans, rushing for a season-high 166 yards while the offense moved the ball as well as it had all season long, even if it still left some plays out on the field.
“I just thought he did a really good job in general,” Tomlin said of Jones’ play. “I thought he did a really nice job on the second level, for example.”
That was evident on this block, climbing to the linebacker and clearing a path for RB Jaylen Warren.
In the Steelers’ latest depth chart, Jones and Okorafor are listed as co-starters. Tomlin said they’ll figure out who will be the actual starter for the weekend during this week’s practice.
“We’ll determine that throughout the week. It means exactly what it says – or,” Tomlin said of the “or” tag between Jones and Okorafor on the depth chart.
Once again, the Steelers have a decision to make. Jones has proven he’s starter-capable and worthy of playing every single week. But earlier this year, Pittsburgh placed Jones back on the bench when Dan Moore Jr. got healthy at left tackle.
If you had to read into Tomlin’s answer, it seems like he’s leaning towards Jones starting. Or at least getting starter reps during the week. If the team is going to turn to him again, it would be logical for him to receive first-team reps throughout the week in order to have him as prepared as possible. That should be teased out through reporting and speaking with players throughout the week, but it may not be clear who the team will roll with until warmups on Sunday afternoon.
