The Pittsburgh Steelers’ offensive line struggled mightily against the Buffalo Bills Saturday night. Fans were eager to see QB Russell Wilson get the start. The Bills defense sacked him three times over the course of five offensive drives. It was an ugly sight, and OT Broderick Jones was a big part of that.
Jones started the game at right tackle, the position where he played almost all of his 2023 snaps. He gave up two sacks at that spot and was a liability in pass protection. Now, he was playing with an elbow brace. There has been discussion that he’s dealing with an injury. In fact, he did not meet with the media after the game and instead met with the team doctor.
But the Steelers moved up for Broderick Jones in the 2023 NFL Draft with the intent to make him the left tackle of the future. What happened? Is this just an injury-related issue or is there more than we know? Evidence may be mounting that there is more to the story with Jones.
“When they made the decision to put Fautanu at right tackle and to keep him there, they were going to let it play out with Broderick Jones and Dan Moore at left tackle,” Steelers insider Ray Fittipaldo said on Monday’s episode of the North Shore Drive podcast. “It’s not like they said, ‘Okay, Broderick, you’re the left tackle, Dan Moore, you’re the swing tackle.’ They were gonna let that play out in a competition. So whether they don’t feel like he’s ready yet, whether there’s some technique issues that have to be ironed out, whatever it is, it’s not a good sign for the Steelers’ offensive line. I think they were expecting at this point that he would be a little bit further along.”
Fittipaldo goes on to say that the Steelers could very well be a guilty party in all of this. Jones played left tackle at the University of Georgia. That’s his natural position. However, they played him out of position for most of 2023. He did struggle but showed progress throughout the season.
But during training camp this year, Jones has bounced back and forth between left and right tackle. It isn’t what most people expected. After the Steelers drafted OT Troy Fautanu 20th overall in the 2024 NFL Draft, people expected that Jones and Fautanu would be the bookend tackles.
Jones would kick back to his natural left tackle position and replace Dan Moore Jr. Fautanu would play right tackle. Half of that played out as expected. Even after Fautanu sustained a knee injury in the Steelers’ first preseason game, Gerry Dulac reported Fautanu would still be the starting right tackle.
Now, with the injury to Fautanu, it makes sense that Broderick Jones would slot back in at right tackle. Moore hasn’t shown the ability to play that position, while Jones has. However, the problem is that Moore had a terrible 2023 in terms of pass blocking.
On Saturday night, the Steelers’ heir apparent at left tackle struggled to protect the quarterback—not the vilified one.
