After a promising start after being inserted into the starting lineup at right tackle in Week Nine, Pittsburgh Steelers’ rookie Broderick Jones is starting to come back to earth quite a bit.
Jones, who moved back to the No. 2 spot in Pro Football Focus’ rookie offensive tackle grades entering Week 17, had a decent showing against the Cincinnati Bengals in Week 16, grading out at a 59.6 overall from PFF. But his work in pass protection remains a major concern.
The Georgia product graded out at just 50.7 in pass protection against the Bengals, though he allowed just two pressures on 30 drop backs. Still, the work in pass protection from Jones is a concern, at least for PFF’s Dalton Wasserman.
“Jones struggled in pass protection for the second consecutive week. While he allowed just two pressures, he was beaten on three other occasions and posted a 32.0 pass-blocking grade on true pass sets,” Wasserman writes regarding Jones. “Since he moved to right tackle in Week 8, Jones carries a 38.5 pass-blocking grade on true pass sets, a bottom-10 mark among qualified tackles.”
It certainly hasn’t been pretty from Jones at right tackle.
Week 15 against the Indianapolis Colts was a nightmare for the rookie, who graded out at a 19.3 in pass protection and allowed five pressures and two sacks in the 30-13 loss. He bounced back against the Bengals the following week, but there are still concerns with Jones’ technique and footwork at the right tackle position.
He tends to drop his head at times, which puts him in a compromising situation in pass protection. That’s gotten him in trouble in big spots in pass protection, much like it did against the Colts. He had some issues against Sam Hubbard and the Bengals in Week 16, too, though not nearly as many issues as he had the previous week.
So far on the season, Jones holds a 53.1 pass blocking grade from PFF. He’s allowed 23 pressures and three sacks in 354 pass-blocking reps. Those numbers don’t seem all that concerning on the surface, but the tape in recent weeks has told a different story. He might be hitting a bit of a rookie wall, which happens.
Hopefully he can bounce back in the final two games and get back to the level of play he was at earlier in the season when the Steelers turned to him to replace Chukwuma Okorafor at right tackle.
