Offensive tackle Broderick Jones, like most rookies in the Pittsburgh Steelers 2023 class, has had to grow up fast. Gone are the days of waiting your turn, sitting on the bench for a year (or two), while veterans get the nod.
Jones became a starting lineup regular in Week Nine, tasked with adjusting to right tackle. Not only has he played well, but Mike Tomlin sees him quickly emerging as a leader along the Steelers’ offensive line.
In his weekly interview with Steelers.com’s Bob Labriola, Tomlin said Jones was the team’s “bell cow” who led by action in the team’s Week 17 win over the Seattle Seahawks.
“Although he is really young, he plays with a desired demeanor, and it is contagious,” Tomlin told Labriola. “He took the fight to Seattle, and his teammates followed. And so you don’t have to be a grizzly veteran or a gray beard to lead. I think he’s finding his footing in that area, and that’s exciting.”
Jones served as a tone-setter as Pittsburgh racked up 202 yards on the ground in the win. An aggressive run blocker, he played to and through the whistle and de-cleated Seahawks’ players on multiple occasions. In the first half, he pancaked DB Julian Love pulling around on this Dart scheme, going to the ground to finish his block.
Pass protection has been an issue, but Jones’s run blocking has been a spark since becoming a starter. Struggling to run the ball in the first half of the year, things clicked once Jones replaced Chukwuma Okorafor on the right side. Pittsburgh has rushed for over 150 yards on numerous occasions since, including a pair of 200 yard performances on the year. Their 46 rushing attempts versus Seattle were the Steelers’ most since 2006, a Tomlin-era record.
Jones took his run blocking to the edge of what’s allowed. On another occasion against Seattle, he blindsided veteran DT Leonard Williams at the end of this run. On the very next play, Williams sought him out and returned the favor.
We’ll see if that headbutt from Williams gets fined, by the way. Quiet off the field, Jones is a different player on it. It’s served him and the Steelers well. Tomlin compared Jones’s intensity and quick leadership to another former first-round pick, Maurkice Pouncey.
“It’s very similar to the way that Maurkice Pouncey matured through his first year as a player in the things that we saw in him that eventually became captain-worthy and things of that nature.”
The team’s top choice in 2010, Pouncey was an immediate starter and one of the first pieces of a rebuilt offensive line. Jones is among the team’s most recent additions, coming after the Steelers added veteran guards James Daniels and Isaac Seumalo in free agency, but he was a big swing at tackle. Pittsburgh traded up three spots to select him, becoming the first offensive tackle the team took in the first round since Jamain Stephens in 1996.
Though it’s arguably wiser to move Jones back to left tackle next season, his natural spot, his energy and intensity are evident regardless of where he’s lining up. That sort of attitude will come in handy against a physical bunch like the Baltimore Ravens, where Pittsburgh’s ability to run the ball will again be key.
