Article

90 In 30: Steelers 2024 Training Camp Preview Series — Broderick Jones, Damontae Kazee, Miles Killebrew

By Dave Bryan

Posted on July 4, 2024 at 7:15 am

The Pittsburgh Steelers’ 2024 offseason practices concluded in the middle of June. Next up is the team’s annual training camp, which gets underway in the latter part of July at Saint Vincent College in Latrobe. Ahead of Steelers training camp, we will preview the team’s offseason roster three players at a time as part of a multi-post series. This Steelers roster preview, which includes outlooks for every player, will be done alphabetically by last name to make it easy to follow. This series figures to exceed 90 players this year as the team can carry 91 players in total during the offseason due to the allowance of one international player designation.

The next set of players we will preview ahead of the Steelers’ 2024 training camp are Broderick Jones, Damontae Kazee, and Miles Killebrew.

OT Broderick Jones: After selecting Jones in the first round of the 2023 NFL Draft, the Georgia product started his rookie season as a backup tackle. By Week 9, however, Jones took over the starting right tackle spot and never relinquished it on his way to logging 832 total offensive snaps through the team’s lone playoff game. Over 100 (122) of those offensive snaps did come at left tackle due to injuries on the offensive line, and that was the primary position that he played in college.

In total, Jones allowed five sacks in 2023 and 34 total pressures, according to Pro Football Focus. He also had two penalties as a rookie. PFF graded Jones out at 57.3 on the season with just a 47.6 grade as a pass blocker.

Outlook: Jones obviously has a lot of room for improvement, and it will be interesting to see if he moves over to left tackle permanently by the start of the regular season. He’s likely to become the Steelers’ starting left tackle at some point, and it’s just a matter of when that ultimately occurs.

Jones must work on becoming a much better pass protector in his second NFL season after having some issues in that part of his game as a rookie. As far as his run blocking goes, Jones had some dominant snaps in that phase as a rookie. Now, he just needs to flash more of those in 2024. The Steelers will likely look to run the ball even more in 2024, and thus, Jones will need to do his part at tackle to make sure the offense has success in that phase.

Jones is only 23 years old, and he exited college without a ton of playing time compared to other tackles in his draft class, with just 1,396 offensive snaps in total. Because of that, he should be expected to improve in all areas of his game in his second NFL season, especially now that he has a better grasp of what offensive line coach Pat Meyer is teaching.

S Damontae Kazee: The 2023 season was Kazee’s second one in Pittsburgh after re-signing on a two-year deal early in the offseason. He wound up playing in 14 regular-season games with nine official starts. Kazee, however, was suspended by the NFL for the team’s final three regular-season games due to a dangerous hit on Indianapolis Colts WR Michael Pittman in Week 15. After submitting an appeal, the NFL ruled that Kazee could return for the playoffs, and thus, he appeared in that lone postseason contest for the Steelers.

In total, Kazee played 791 defensive snaps in 2023, including the lone playoff game. He also played 123 more snaps on special teams in 2023. Most of Kazee’s defensive snaps in 2023 came at free safety, and that was likely a result of starting S Minkah Fitzpatrick missing several games due to injuries.

Outlook: With Kazee having now played nearly two full seasons with the Steelers, he’s expected to be a primary backup safety in 2024 as the team added veteran S DeShon Elliott during free agency. Elliott and Fitzpatrick are expected to be the team’s two starters at safety in 2024 while Kazee is likely to be the primary backup to both.

While Kazee isn’t likely to start in 2024, he could still receive weekly defensive snaps as part of a dime package that requires three safeties to be on the field. Kazee should be able to move around in the secondary, including playing in the slot occasionally. Should Kazee need to play nearly as many defensive snaps in 2024 as he did in 2023, such volume would likely result from an injury or two to the starters. As a backup defensive back, Kazee will also likely play some on special teams in 2024.

In his last three NFL seasons, Kazee has recorded two interceptions in each. It would be great if he could match that number again in 2024 as only a backup and sub-package player. Now 31 years old, Kazee is scheduled to earn $3 million in 2024, the final year of his contract.

S Miles Killebrew: The Steelers re-signed Killebrew to a two-year, $6.5 million contract just after the start of the 2024 NFL league year in March. Now, the special teams demon will be back for a fourth season in Pittsburgh after playing his first five seasons with the Detroit Lions. Last season, including the team’s lone playoff game, Killebrew logged 335 special teams snaps with 111 more on defense, the most he has played in Pittsburgh on that side of the football.

During the 2023 regular season, Killebrew registered 13 special teams tackles, leading the team in that statistical category. The Steelers’ special teams captain also had one punt block in 2023. On the defensive side, Killebrew registered 13 total tackles in 2023, with one for loss. He also recorded a quarterback hit in his limited defensive playing time.

Outlook: While Killebrew can play multiple spots in the Steelers’ defense, that’s not his forte. Barring injuries or special situations, it’s unlikely that he’ll come close in 2024 to the defensive snaps that he played in 2023. Killebrew’s niche in the NFL is as a special teams player, so he’s likely to be the captain of that unit again in 2024 and be a core player in that phase of the game.

Killebrew has a knack for being a consistent team leader in special teams tackles, and that should be expected to be the case once again in 2024. He also has a knack for blocking punts so it will be surprising if he doesn’t have at least one of those this coming season. Every team needs a player like Killebrew, who was a Pro Bowler and first-team All-Pro selection for the first time in his career last season. It won’t be shocking if he receives both of those honors again in 2024.

Previous Posts In This Series:

Related Items:2024 Training Camp, Broderick Jones, Damontae Kazee, Miles Killebrew

Steelers Depot

Recommended for you