Tim Benz: If Broderick Jones is hurt, that's concerning for the Steelers. But it may be even more concerning if he isn’t
Many are wondering if Broderick Jones’ poor performance against the Buffalo Bills during Saturday’s 9-3 preseason loss is the result of an elbow injury he sustained in training camp.
Or, at the very least, if it was a byproduct of the brace he is wearing on his arm to deal with the problem.
“We’re not looking for excuses,” head coach Mike Tomlin said after practice Monday.
For his part, Jones didn’t use his arm (or the brace) as an excuse either. However, he did admit to the injury lingering. His explanation of its extent was nebulous at best.
“I’m as healthy as I’m going to get with the season coming up,” Jones said. “Everybody is always playing with some minor injury or something that they’ve got to push through. Everybody is going to have those little nicks and bruises, but you have to continue to play through them.”
Jones also revealed that he is dealing with multiple issues and didn’t specify exactly if it’s the elbow that is bothering him. He also didn’t clarify what “as healthy as I’m going to get” means. That leads one to wonder if this is something that could be a problem throughout the year.
If Jones is hurt, that would be very concerning for the Steelers. But it may be even more concerning if he isn’t.
An injury can be used to explain Jones’ pockmarked performance on Saturday. Maybe it’s something that can be treated. At the very least, it would be identifying the problem.
That said, if Jones isn’t hurt and this is how he looks when he is healthy, then he is either on the verge of a horrendous sophomore slump, or perhaps the Steelers have screwed up his development by having him learn both right tackle and left tackle at the same time.
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At least an injury wouldn’t be anyone’s fault. If Jones’ game has slipped this much from an impressive rookie season, that’s on him.
If his mechanics are messed up from working on the right side, with an eye toward staying sharp for an inevitable move to the left side, that’s on the Steelers for mismanaging their tackle situation from the start of the season.
“I’ve got a lot of confidence in Broderick,” offensive coordinator Arthur Smith said Tuesday. “He’s a young player. Because of our issues at, potentially, swing tackle, we’ve got another rookie tackle, so there’s a lot moving.”
Well, the “issues at swing tackle” are self-created by the Steelers since their swing tackle doesn’t swing.
Dan Moore Jr. only plays the left side. So Jones — a first-round pick they traded up to get a year ago — is essentially the swing guy even though he is a starter. Presumably, at some point, he will displace Moore at left tackle, with 2024 first-round rookie Troy Fautanu starting on the right side.
Jones played both sides during the preseason opener against the Houston Texans. General manager Omar Khan has stated that the plan for Jones is to be on the left side “eventually.” For now, he’s simply preparing for that job while trying to do the same job as a starter on the side.
It doesn’t appear to be going well at present, even though Jones refused to call his position flip-flopping a factor.
Fautanu is currently injured with an MCL sprain. Reserve tackle Dylan Cook revealed after practice on Tuesday that he has a foot ailment. He will be in a walking boot for “a couple of weeks.”
That could mean a longer look at Spencer Anderson at right tackle if Jones’ arm turns into a bigger problem. Anderson admits that right tackle isn’t his strongest position, as he has grown most accustomed to playing guard in the NFL since being drafted in 2023.
“I’ve just got to be light on my feet,” Anderson said. “I haven’t taken many tackle reps (during) OTAs and really all of camp until the last week or so. I’m just trying to familiarize myself with it again because we have a couple of guys down.”
Fautanu was cautiously optimistic about his chances of being in uniform in Atlanta for the season opener. It may be too big of an ask for the coaches to throw him in the fire as a first-year starter with just a few drives of preseason football under his belt.
“I’ll be ready to go,” Fautanu said if he is asked to start in Week 1 with such little NFL playing time. “There is nothing else I can do but embrace the challenge and take it on head up. I can’t hope and wish my life away that I had more time in the preseason. I’ve just got to make sure I’m preparing myself.”
Of all the permutations that have been kicked around for how the Steelers tackles may be deployed to start 2024, I’m pretty sure no one envisioned Moore on the left side opposite Anderson, Devery Hamilton or TyKeem Doss.
However, if the Steelers decide to give Jones a rest because of his arm, that may at least be how things are in Detroit this Saturday to end the preseason.
That’s not exactly a recipe to get a quality extended look at what Russell Wilson and Justin Fields can do in the pocket. In fact, last time out against the Bills, there was rarely ever a pocket to speak of in the first place.
And if the coaches don’t want to point at bad luck for Jones’ arm, then it may prove to be bad planning by the Steelers to have cluttered their tackle situation in the manner that they have.
Tim Benz is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Tim at tbenz@triblive.com or via X. All tweets could be reposted. All emails are subject to publication unless specified otherwise.
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