Pittsburgh Steelers RT Broderick Jones has not had the sophomore season many anticipated. The 14th overall pick a year ago, he has struggled significantly at portions of the season. On multiple occasions, he has drawn multiple flags on the same drive. The first time that happened, the Steelers demoted him before kickoff and benched him.
However, the Steelers had no choice but to turn back to Jones the following week due to injury. And while he is, on the whole, playing better than he was in September, his tape leaves something to be desired. The man who works most closely with him sees more than that.
That would be rookie RG Mason McCormick, who spoke to Kevin Gorman for the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review about Broderick Jones. He told Gorman that Jones had also helped him learn his assignments and picked up technical details. Working in tandem on the right side of the offensive line, he sees everything his right tackle puts in.
“Some things have happened, but Broderick has done a really good job of putting things behind him”, McCormick said of Jones, who himself said he is unfazed by the outside noise. “You can see him continue to grow and develop — in his mind, as well. He’s still a young player. I am, too. We’re learning and growing together. You can see that growth really starting to take place”.
Though drafted a year later, Broderick Jones is actually considerably younger and less experienced than Mason McCormick. He declared for the 2023 NFL Draft as a redshirt sophomore, at the time still 21 years old. McCormick played six collegiate seasons and is slightly over a year older than Jones. Jones only started about a dozen collegiate games; McCormick started a few dozen.
Mike Tomlin never forgets that when he talks about Jones, where he is in his development, and why they drafted him. And that’s partly because he knows what happens behind closed doors while we don’t. “Broderick comes in and works hard”, McCormick insisted. “He is extremely talented. The ceiling for him is crazy. He’s going to keep working hard to reach it”.
The Steelers traded up to make Broderick Jones their left tackle of the future. Through faults not entirely his own, he never made it over to left tackle this year, starting at right tackle as a rookie after losing out to Dan Moore Jr. for the starting job on the left.
Jones also lost his starting right tackle job to rookie first-round pick Troy Fautanu, as mentioned above. Fautanu did not play in the opener due to a knee injury, but the Steelers installed him ahead of Jones in Week Two. They planned to rotate him in a bit but aborted the plan when Jones struggled to handle it.
But Fautanu went down with another injury in the following week of practice, effectively lost for the season. It has been all Broderick Jones since then, and it has been a bit of a rollercoaster ride. However, he has been on an upward trajectory, even if there is still plenty of “up” left to traject.
