OT Broderick Jones has had a rough last month, but Mike Tomlin wanted to give him an opportunity to respond after being benched. Jones did just that in the Week 3 win over the Los Angeles Chargers.
His opportunity came as the result of an unfortunate injury to Troy Fautanu, but he prepared as if he was going to be playing, and it paid off.
Justin Fields praised Jones after the game for his performance.
“Huge part of the offense,” Fields said of Jones in his postgame press conference via the Steelers’ YouTube page. “When that situation pops up, he’s not really thinking all week that he’s gonna play and then Troy [Fautanu] goes down Friday, it shows how prepared he was. He prepared all week like he was the starter and it definitely showed up big for us. Especially with this defense that we faced. Showed up huge. So big shout out to 77 for sure.”
I have written a lot about Jones over the last month. It started in the preseason when he allowed 2 sacks and looked lost at right tackle. There was speculation about an elbow injury and the brace he was wearing, while others pointed to him playing out of position. For what it’s worth, Jones did not have the elbow brace on in today’s game.
For better or for worse, Jones is likely going to play the rest of the season at right tackle. It sounds like Fautanu’s injury could cost him the entire season. So regardless of him playing out of position, as some suggest, he needs to perform like the first-round pick they drafted up to take in 2023. Today was a good step in the right direction.
Overcoming adversity is a big part of the sport. At least upon first watch, Jones did that today. There were a few plays early in the game where he looked shaky, but the offense finished strong with good protection of Fields and a great second-half performance on the ground with Najee Harris and Cordarrelle Patterson.
Jones barely had to go against Joey Bosa, who exited the game early, but they still had Bud Dupree and Khalil Mack rushing off the edge. That is no easy assignment.
Jones will now have an opportunity to stack good performances and turn around the recent negative trend on his career. At the end of the day, he is still just 23 years old with 13 starts.
