Current teammates and coaches may be incentivized to tactfully handle public criticism of players, but that doesn’t apply to former players. Ben Roethlisberger spent most of his career absorbing blame, but today, he dished a little out to second-year OT Broderick Jones.
Overall, Roethlisberger said he likes the Steelers’ offensive line despite its growing pains and stressed how big of a deal it was that Troy Fautanu, the first-round rookie, was lost for the year with an injury. The trajectory of the offensive line’s interior looks strong, but Roethlisberger has big concerns about offensive tackle.
“You’ve got to figure out what happens at your tackle spots,” Roethlisberger said via his Footbahlin’ podcast on YouTube. “People are gonna get on Dan Moore and Broderick Jones for the amount of sacks they’ve given up. Broderick needs to step it up. I’ve watched the film, and I’ve watched him make mistakes. Quite a few mistakes. He’s still growing, and he’s learning, but he can’t continue to make mistakes.”
The most common excuse that gets brought up about Jones is the fact that he is playing “out of position” on the right side of the offensive line. At this point, he has way more experience at right tackle than left tackle between college and the pros. I don’t think it’s a matter of switching sides, and suddenly, he is fixed. That said, I think Jones had a solid second half of the season. After the bye week, he played much better overall. It still wasn’t perfect, but the early-season issues with failing to use his hands and failing to sustain blocks got a lot better.
Roethlisberger says there are still too many mental errors.
“I watched him play in Baltimore. Both him and Dan both pulled towards each other. And the ball ended up running the way that Dan pulled, so I’m assuming that Broderick was wrong,” Roethlisberger said. “…Too many times I’m watching the film, and Merril [Hoge] is sending me stuff where it’s like, he made a mistake. You can’t do that. You have to learn.”
Ben is assigning blame to Jones on this play as Warren works to the right side of the line where Moore pulled to. Jones was likely supposed to climb to that linebacker who came down to make the tackle.
Jones is still just 23 years old. I wouldn’t count him out by any means, but he was a big part of the problem early in the year, and he isn’t as far along as you’d hope, with 1.5 seasons of NFL starting experience under his belt.
He will likely be moved back to left tackle next year, so there will be a slight adjustment for him. Maybe he does figure it out over there, but he will be going against even better edge rushers.
There is a strong possibility that OL coach Pat Meyer will be let go in the coming days. A new OL coach could be just what the doctor ordered for Jones. Whoever comes in will coach under a physical, run-first system with Arthur Smith, and they will have plenty of high-pedigree talent to work with. Fixing Jones would theoretically be one of their top assignments.
The Steelers will have to decide on his fifth-year option following the 2025 season, making it a pivotal year for his future with the team.
