Will Broderick Jones begin training camp on the PUP List?
The Steelers will open training camp soon, but will Broderick Jones be with his teammates participating on the practice field? Having suffered a neck injury last season, his status is unclear. While he participated on a limited basis in OTAs, he seemed far removed from being cleared for football activities.
After his injury, Jones underwent spinal fusion surgery, so a stint on the PUP List certainly wouldn’t be surprising. Asante Samuel Jr. went through a similar process last year and he wasn’t ready to play until well into the season.
If Broderick Jones avoids the PUP List, that would really change the equation at right tackle. At this point, everybody has largely written him off, though not necessarily unfairly. Until he displays the ability to participate in football, it’s hard to consider him in those terms.
Right now, it’s Dylan Cook competing with rookie first-round pick Max Iheanachor at right tackle. Jones will be in the mix, provided he’s not on the PUP List, but in what order, exactly? Purely hypothetically, if he were fully ready to participate on Day 1, would he be working with the first-team offensive line? After all, he’s been a full-time starter for most of his career. Iheanachor is meant to be a starter, eventually, while Cook up until recently was a practice squad player.
Even if Broderick Jones does avoid the PUP List, though, he hasn’t practiced in months. Now, he’s not the first player ever to recover from an injury, granted. But in a sense, he’s already lost his starting job, the Steelers moving Troy Fautanu over to left tackle. Of course, Jones actually has more starts at right tackle in his career…
Despite how it might seem, with many making him persona non grata, his career is far from over. As long as he is healthy, he can still have a long and productive starting career. Prior to his injury last season, he was improving, and is certainly capable of being somebody’s left tackle in the future, even if it doesn’t end up being with the Steelers. Granted, having drafted Iheanachor, they have, in effect, moved on. But that doesn’t mean that he can’t regain his starting spot one last time in Pittsburgh—again, if healthy. And that’s a big if until we hear otherwise.
The Steelers have a long road ahead of them under Mike McCarthy, along with his cadre of quarterbacks.With seven consecutive postseason losses, and no wins in nearly a decade, they are under fire for their repeated playoff failures. While we have seen many changes, none could dream of topping Mike Tomlin resigning.
We’re already deep into the offseason, with free agency and the draft already reshaping rosters. The Steelers, of course, are used to early offseason mode as a team thatloses by the middle of January all the time. Enjoy the ride, even the turbulence, because it’s the only way we know how to travel anymore.
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