Broderick Jones may be in his third NFL season, but he was starting over in a sense with a move to left tackle. He even admitted not too long before the season that he would need time to feel fully comfortable.
It wasn’t a pretty start, but maybe Jones is finally turning the corner with a solid upward trajectory.
“Each week he’s getting better and better. Good feet, look at that set, inside hand. Great pass set, touchdown[Pat] Freiermuth. Good job Broderick,” Trai Essex said in a short video posted on X.
After allowing nine pressures through the Steelers’ first three games, Jones has only allowed five over their last three. He hasn’t been charged with allowing a sack since Week 2, and has just one penalty called on him so far. Is his play consistently good? No, but it’s a big step up from being consistently bad like it was last year.
Not all the credit should go to Jones. Arthur Smith has schemed up ways to limit his exposure with extra blockers helping his side and a quick passing game. Nobody is better at getting rid of the ball quickly than Aaron Rodgers. But that wasn’t the case in Week 7. Rodgers’ average time to throw was 2.91, according to Next Gen Stats.
Those caveats aside, Jones has shown progress in some of the technical aspects of his game that were notoriously lacking. One of his biggest issues has been an inability to time or place his punches correctly. It still happens from time to time, but he is landing those punches more frequently, like he did in the clip above.
Broderick Jones still has a long way to go to live up to the Steelers’ first-round draft investment in him, but there is tangible evidence of his progress. If he keeps on this trajectory, he may actually be a decent tackle by the end of the season.
