The Pittsburgh Steelers have been working second-year OT Broderick Jones at both left tackle, his natural position that he played in college, and right tackle, where he got the majority of his snaps during his rookie year. Ahead of Pittsburgh’s preseason opener, head coach Mike Tomlin said it’s “reasonable to expect” that Jones will play both right tackle and left tackle in the team’s preseason opener on Friday against the Houston Texans.
“He has been. And so it’s reasonable to expect that to continue,” Tomlin said via Steelers.com when asked if Jones will play both sides.
With the Steelers drafting Troy Fautanu and committing to playing him on the right side, the thought heading into training camp was that Jones would primarily rep at left tackle. However, through the first two weeks of camp, Jones has gotten very few left tackle reps and worked on the right side with the first-team offense with Dan Moore Jr., Pittsburgh’s starting left tackle since 2022, getting the majority of the first-team left tackle reps.
During practice on Tuesday though, the Steelers worked Fautanu with the first-team more while Jones saw left tackle snaps with the second-team offense. The expectation is still that Jones could beat out Moore for the left tackle job, but Fautanu is going to have to prove he can hold down right tackle for that to happen, and Moore doesn’t seem to be giving up his job easily.
It’ll be interesting to see how things play out throughout the rest of training camp and the preseason, but the Steelers seem to be preparing for the possibility of Jones playing either side depending on how things work out with Moore and Fautanu. Pittsburgh isn’t going to rush Fautanu into action if the team doesn’t feel he’s ready to start, and the Steelers have some level of comfort with Moore given his starting experience.
Of course, that level of comfort didn’t preclude them from drafting an offensive tackle in the first round in back-to-back years. And at some point, possibly as soon as Week 1, we’ll likely see Fautanu as the starting right tackle and Jones starting on the left side. But the Steelers will be patient, and they’ll continue to work Jones on both sides in case he does wind up starting at right tackle or sees time there for whatever reason throughout the season.
We still have a month to go until Week 1 and a lot can change, but Pittsburgh is being smart by preparing for any and all possibilities as it relates to its offensive tackle situation.
