The Pittsburgh Steelers were expected to rotate Troy Fautanu and Broderick Jones at right tackle today, but that ended after the third series, which was Jones’ first of the game. Jones was pulled during the series after committing three penalties, a false start and two holding calls. Asked after the game if the penalties were why Jones was pulled and didn’t return, head coach Mike Tomlin confirmed that was the case.
“You got it,” Tomlin said via Steelers.com.
One of the penalties wiped out a 51-yard catch and throw from QB Justin Fields to WR George Pickens that would’ve put the Steelers inside the Denver 10-yard line.
Instead, the drive ended in a punt, and Jones didn’t return to the field. After a shaky preseason and Week 1 performance out of Jones, the Steelers wanted to get Fautanu some reps, and the rotation still gave Jones some playing time and a chance to try to outperform Fautanu and get his right tackle job back. But in the end, it ended up hurting Jones more than helping, as the mistakes he made cost the Steelers yards and likely points.
We’ll see what the case is going forward, but Jones’ performance today doesn’t bode well for him going forward. The team seems to like Fautanu a lot, and he seemed to play a relatively clean game today, although the All-22 will provide a better look at how he performed. But the biggest thing was that he didn’t make the mistakes that Jones did, and those mistakes could cost Jones a starting spot and playing time going forward.
It’s not a promising development for Pittsburgh’s 2023 first-round pick who was expected to be a future bookend tackle along with Fautanu. But instead of playing left tackle, most of his reps throughout the summer and into the season have come on the right side, with Dan Moore Jr. holding down the left tackle spot. Jones has also been dealing with an injury of some sort, so maybe some time on the bench to rest up and heal would be better for his long-term development. But a first-round pick who started as a rookie moving to the bench during his sophomore campaign is never something you like to see.
The critical mistakes cost the Steelers today, and costing your team points is the quickest way to lose a job. That’s what happened with Jones in Denver, and it might be too much for Jones to overcome to win his job back.
