Just a year ago, Broderick Jones was taking his first steps in the NFL during the offseason program with the Pittsburgh Steelers. He was in a competition for one of the starting tackle spots but didn’t end up winning the job until Week 9. He knows better than most that the trials of being a rookie are a marathon rather than a sprint, and he is using that recent experience to take things slow with the three rookie draft picks along the line.
“I was just thinking yesterday, it’s crazy, ’cause I look at them and I think about how I came in last year and needed a whole bunch of fine-tuning, and I just see them developing each and every day, like getting better at one thing,” Jones said in a video posted by Pittsburgh Post-Gazette on YouTube. “It’s just kind of crazy because they look at me for support, but I was just in their shoes last year. I just try and help out as much as I can.
“They’re doing great. Everything’s not perfect, but like I told them yesterday, you’re gonna make mistakes. You’re still young, you still have a lot of football to learn…don’t overthink it, don’t try and overcomplicate it and just play football and everything will work out.”
The Steelers are going to be counting on some of these rookie offensive linemen to make an impact in year one. Second-round center Zach Frazier probably has the best chance to be a Week 1 starter in competition with Nate Herbig, who has very little center experience despite being in the NFL for five seasons now. And then first-round offensive tackle Troy Fautanu is in a similar situation as Jones last offseason with Dan Moore Jr. fighting to retain his job.
The competition has an extra layer this year as the team clearly wants to move Jones back to the left side, but that would mean starting Fautanu Week 1 on the right side because Moore is not comfortable with flipping sides.
As we have heard with some of the other veteran players, they aren’t rushing to give too much advice to the rookies, first allowing them to find their own way a bit during the OTA sessions. They are learning a new offense and getting used to the techniques of OL coach Pat Meyer and the level of competition at the NFL level. Once training camp comes around, Jones says he will be taking on even more of a mentor role to tell the rookies the do’s and don’ts from what he learned last training camp.
Head coach Mike Tomlin spoke of Jones as an emerging leader at the end of his rookie season. It sounds like he is exercising some wisdom in his approach to the rookies so far, and helping them along in their process will only further solidify him as a leader in the room. The offense that lacked clear leadership last season now has several options that can help keep the group focused and moving in the right direction.
