You are not going to find very many ardent supporters of Pittsburgh Steelers LT Broderick Jones right now. You will find a lot of people calling him out after his performance against the New York Jets last Sunday. He allowed three sacks and struggled most of the contest.
Heck, former Steelers OL Trai Essex said that there were times when Jones didn’t look like he belonged on an NFL field. But not everyone thinks Jones is destined for the bench and a short career.
“I have all the belief in Broderick,” Former Steelers CB Bryant McFadden said Friday on 93.7 The Fan’s PM Team show. “When you go first round, you’re a talented player. It’s about just finding your stride. That’s the thing. It’s not like you have a guy starting left tackle with no talent. He has talent. It’s about finding his stride and hopefully, he gets the confidence that he needs to be able to play at his best.”
The Steelers certainly believed Broderick Jones had talent. They wouldn’t have traded up to the 14th overall pick in 2023 to select him. The problem was that Jones was raw. He only started 19 career games at the University of Georgia. He was big, athletic, and talented. But he was far from a finished product.
The Steelers banked on his potential, but Jones’ NFL journey has been anything but smooth. He’s spent most of his playing time in the NFL at right tackle rather than left. In fact, Jones started only his second career NFL game at left tackle in Week 1. Everyone believed, including the Steelers, that Broderick Jones would be their franchise left tackle eventually. They simply haven’t played him there much at all in his first two years. Unfortunately, Jones has struggled whether he’s at right or left tackle so far in his career. He’s struggled with both power and speed rushers like he did last Sunday against the Jets.
However, in the film room linked above, our very own Jonathan Heitritter did see some positives later in the contest. He saw Jones start to win some of the battles, even saying that Jones “seemingly found his groove later in that game.”
That sounds an awful lot like hitting his stride, as McFadden put it. And we have seen individual plays, both in the pass and run game, where Broderick Jones can win against a variety of players. He’s just struggling to do it with any regularity. But perhaps some confidence will go a long way to helping him put some solid plays, then drives, and then hopefully games together.
And McFadden isn’t the only one who still has belief in Jones, or at least is willing to say they do. QB Aaron Rodgers spoke about Jones on Wednesday, saying he’s “got a lot of confidence in him watching my back.”
Now, McFadden is aware that Broderick Jones is struggling. He saw the issues that Jones put on tape last Sunday against the Jets. And he said Jones has to be aware that the Seattle Seahawks will see those struggles as well.
“In the words of Mike Tomlin, what he used to say to us in the meeting rooms, any time you put bad tape out there, be prepared to embrace it…” McFadden said. “So, everything that worked for the Jets last week, the Seattle Seahawks will do the same thing. That’s just part of the National Football League. Any time you have a bad week or an inconsistent week, be prepared to see those same things the next week until you get it right.”
And if the Seahawks give Broderick Jones fits on Sunday, Rodgers will find himself trying to run around the pocket like he did last Sunday.
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