Last Sunday, Pittsburgh Steelers RT Broderick Jones had a fantastic game against the Washington Commanders. Pro Football Focus had him as one of the best Steelers players and did not assign a hurry, hit, or pressure to him in the game. Unfortunately, that quality game did not carry over to Sunday’s 18-16 win over the Baltimore Ravens.
Jones was flagged three times in the game, one of which was offset by a Ravens penalty. And on QB Russell Wilson’s red-zone interception, Jones gave up almost instantaneous pressure and struggled to help out Wilson as he scrambled.
So where do the Steelers go from here with the struggling Jones? After the game, head coach Mike Tomlin backed Jones. That continued Monday.
“He’s a young guy, man,” Tomlin said during his Monday press conference per video from the Steelers’ YouTube channel. “He’s younger than all the rookies at his position, to put perspective on it. Zach Frazier and [Mason] McCormick are all older than him. And so he’s got growth in all areas ahead of him. But he also has an awesome skill set. So we’re experiencing some bumps and bruises associated with on-the-job training. Like I mentioned yesterday, I have no intention of blinking and neither does he. We’ll just keep working.”
Despite having played in 27 NFL games, Jones is arguably the most inexperienced of the three offensive linemen Tomlin mentioned. Zach Frazier played in 47 college games while Jones played 32 (but only 19 starts). And Mason McCormick played in a whopping 70 college games.
We all thought that Broderick Jones would take the next step in 2024. He played right tackle for the majority of his snaps as a rookie despite playing as a left tackle in college. And he showed improvement throughout his rookie season.
Yet Jones has struggled in 202, and it’s frustrating fans, understandably. But Jones is only 23 years old with less than 50 combined starts between his college and NFL careers. Both Frazier and McCormick are beyond that as rookies.
Development is not always linear. So we might still see Broderick Jones tap into that “awesome skillset” Tomlin talked about. Tomlin seems to be committed to helping Jones harness that ability. We saw glimpses of that against the Commanders last week. Perhaps consistency is what’s needed now.
