Even with Aaron Rodgers and a revamped group of skill-position players, the Pittsburgh Steelers can only as far offensively as their young linemen take them. The development and progress of Broderick Jones and Troy Fautanu was the most important thing to watch this preseason with almost all other starters resting. They played 42 snaps across three games and represented themselves well overall.
Former Steelers OL Trai Essex evaluated the two young tackles Friday morning via 93.7 The Fan’s Morning Show.
“The quick twitch, the punch, getting out the set. I can tell that he’s thinking right now, but once it starts to become more natural and instinctive and he’s out there playing ball as opposed to just trying to do his job right that’s then the All-Pro is gonna show,” Essex said of Fautanu. “Once the game slowed down and he’s just out there playing ball and having fun, he’s gonna get to that All-Pro level. He has that type of skill set.”
The Steelers had high hopes for Fautanu in his rookie season before a knee injury cut his campaign short after Week 2. Reports indicated they were already viewing him as their best lineman as a rookie. His development was slowed by the injury, but he picked up where he left off. He has every chance to turn into a dominant player this season. In three preseason games, Fautanu allowed zero pressures, and he was playing against starters in two of those games.
As for Jones, there has been a bit more of an adjustment moving over to the left side. His play hasn’t been perfect, but it’s been much more consistent than his struggles a year ago.
“He’s getting more confident out there now. I still want him to punch a little bit more,” Essex said. “If Broderick can incorporate some of that hand usage that [Andrus] Peat showed, Broderick’s game is going to explode. He has the athletic ability, he has the footwork, and you can tell that he wants to be great. He wants to do well. And so that’s all it takes.”
OL coach Pat Meyer preaches first significant contact with punch timing. You would hope that the punches would be overaggressive, if anything. But Jones continues to be slow to the punch at times. And his default position for his arms and elbows tends to be too wide, Jones easily give up his chest when the punch isn’t there.
Entering his third NFL season, my concern is that Jones’ punch will never get to where it needs to be. But there were already signs of improvement in the preseason over last year. Let’s wait for him to get comfortable and build confidence on the left side.
Surprisingly the pass protection has looked better than the run blocking so far in the preseason. If the Steelers’ line can keep Rodgers clean, they may not need to bulldoze people in the run game—at least not right away.
