It was a rather ugly showing for second-year offensive tackle Broderick Jones Sunday in Denver.
Not only did Jones get passed up in the starting lineup by rookie Troy Fautanu, he had three penalties in 11 snaps, which led to his benching.
Things aren’t going all that well at the moment for Jones, who has had a disappointing second season in the NFL. But for Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin, he’s going to give Jones another opportunity to get things corrected and play his way back into the lineup.
“We’ll see where the roads lead. We got a week of preparation and I’d be disrespectful to Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday if I had a hard-core plan in mind about how I was gonna roll those guys. Man, I’m gonna give Broderick an opportunity to rebound,” Tomlin said Tuesday during his weekly press conference, according to video via the Steelers’ YouTube page. “He’s a talented young player. I’m sure he suffered some disappointment in terms of Troy starting. It’s a natural thing, but he’s gotta move past it and I gotta give him an opportunity to move past it as a leader.
“And so we’ll get into this week. We’ll let participation be our guide and the quality of participation for both guys be our guide in terms of how we divvy up reps this week. It’s a new week.”
While Tomlin stated after the game that the penalties were the reason why Jones was benched after just 11 snaps on Sunday, he isn’t giving up on the young tackle. Jones and Fautanu were rotating on Sunday due to Tomlin’s belief in the capability of both and questions about Fautanu’s endurance in his first NFL game.
For now, Jones moves back into that swing tackle role for the Steelers as he tries to get things corrected.
How that will look remains to be seen. Players can only do so much and prove so much in a practice setting. And it seems rather unlikely that Tomlin and the Steelers will go back to the rotation at right tackle again, especially after Tomlin spoke highly of Fautnau on Tuesday, shortly after the depth chart was released with Fautanu listed as the starting right tackle.
So, Jones has his back against the wall. He’s facing serious adversity for the first in his football career. Tomlin left the light on for a potential rotation between the two though that largely sounded like coach-speak. Jones is going to need a great week of work and take advantage of any opportunity he gets to try and force his way back into the lineup.
The Steelers aren’t giving up on him, nor should they. He’s a talented player who has lost his way just a bit on the field. That’s where coaching needs to help correct some of the issues. Jones will get that opportunity to rebound soon. And it’ll be up to him to walk through that door.
