The starting configuration along the Pittsburgh Steelers’ offensive line ahead of the Week 1 season-opening matchup on the road against the Atlanta Falcons remains up in the air. But if second-year offensive tackle Broderick Jones has any insight into the decision making, he believes he’ll be at right tackle.
Speaking with reporters Tuesday following practice at the UPMC Rooney Sports Complex on the South Side, Jones stated that everyone just has to wait and see regarding where he’ll line up because it comes down to rookie Troy Fautanu’s health.
But right now, Jones feels he’ll be at right tackle for the first game of the season.
“We gotta wait and see until September 8 comes. Just see what goes down,” Jones said, according to video via the Tribune-Review’s Chris Adamski on Twitter. “But you know, as of right now, I’m sticking with right tackle. That’s what I’ve been playing. Troy still, he’s trying to get back, right? So for me, I feel like that’s where I’ll be at for the game at the beginning of the season, but you never know.
“We’ll see how everything plays out.”
Jones is coming off a season in which he played nearly 700 snaps at right tackle as a rookie, stepping into the starting lineup at the position in Week 9 against the Tennessee Titans, replacing veteran Chukwuma Okorafor in the process.
Though Jones was drafted to be the left tackle of the future, he held down a starting role at right tackle into the playoffs.
This offseason the Steelers seemed to take the necessary steps to move Jones to left tackle, including drafting Fautanu in the first round at No. 20 overall. The plan was to shift Fautanu to right tackle, which the team did in rookie minicamp, and then let him learn that position throughout the summer and into training camp.
In the meantime, Jones continued to work at right tackle and left tackle. Against the Houston Texans, Fautanu did enough to reportedly have the Steelers planning on starting him at right tackle against the Falcons, believing he’d be healthy.
But ahead of the preseason finale against the Detroit Lions, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette’s Gerry Dulac — who reported the Fautanu/starting RT story originally — changed his tune, stating Saturday on Steelers Nation Radio that Fautanu’s injury might have slowed the process.
So, Fautanu might not be healthy enough to start, which would leave Jones at right tackle and Dan Moore Jr. at left tackle, at least for the opener.
Jones has faced criticism this summer for his struggles, particularly in the preseason. He was dreadful against the Buffalo Bills, allowing two sacks and multiple pressures before exiting the game. Some speculation surfaced that the elbow injury Jones suffered early in training camp was hindering him more than was known, but the second-year pro downplayed it and just said he needed to be more physical and aggressive.
Against the Detroit Lions last Saturday, Jones was better. He didn’t allow a pressure in 20 snaps but still graded out poorly from Pro Football Focus due to some struggles in the run game.
He’s going to be a key piece in the trenches not only in 2024 but beyond. He hasn’t been right this summer, and maybe the moving back and forth and not truly settling into a spot hasn’t helped, but he needs to be better, period.
Whether that’s right or left tackle to open the season remains to be seen. But Jones — for now — feels like it’ll be at RT.
