While a laundry list of veterans sat out for the Pittsburgh Steelers’ preseason opener against the Jacksonville Jaguars, there were a handful who suited up. Two of those were young offensive tackles Broderick Jones and Troy Fautanu, who arguably need these preseason snaps the most.
For the most part, they put together a solid performance. However, Pro Football Focus’ Dalton Wasserman isn’t impressed by what he saw from the duo in Jacksonville.
“Both of them played 15 snaps; it wasn’t spectacular,” Wasserman said Monday on PFF’s NFL Show. “Jones with a 61 PFF grade, Fautanu with a 48 PFF grade. They do need to get better. Fautanu coming off the knee injury, Jones struggling in his first two seasons. I do think these two guys are the X factor to the entire season, not quite dominant in this game. Would like to see better.”
As Wasserman says, the two were on the field for 15 snaps, and 12 of those were pass-blocking reps. During those 12 drop backs, neither allowed a single pressure. Still, PFF gave Fautanu a 48.1 overall grade, one of the worst on the team. A significant part of that may have been due to his illegal-hands-to-the-face penalty, but even that was borderline.
Broderick Jones’ overall grade was a little higher at 61.7. But he was just as impressive as Fautanu when it came to pass blocking, and he didn’t commit any penalties.
Neither were great in run blocking, but that was an issue across the whole line. Pittsburgh eventually wore down Jacksonville’s defense, but early it was a real struggle to establish the run. In Arthur Smith’s offense, that has to get better. However, Jones and Fautanu only had three run plays together, an extremely small sample size. But these two, as well as the whole unit, will get more reps as the preseason progresses.
Allowing no pressures is the real bright side from these two. Aaron Rodgers doesn’t resemble anything close to a mobile quarterback at this point in his career, and the Steelers will face plenty of talented edge rushers this season. It’s paramount that Jones and Fautanu keep Rodgers upright, and they were able to keep their quarterbacks upright on Saturday.
Wasserman expected more, and PFF’s grades back him up. That said, it’s hard to be too unhappy with what Jones and Fautanu showed against the Jaguars. They passed the eye test and weren’t noticed too often, something offensive linemen like to avoid. All things considered, the Steelers’ preseason opener was mostly a positive step for their tackles of the future.
