Steelers rookie tackle Broderick Jones boosted the offense when he entered the fray. His athleticism gave the team new ideas on changing what did in the run game. Meanwhile, his pass protection held up better than expected to start, allowing just 14 pressures through his seven games, but it has changed over the last three games.
Pro Football Focus brought up this issue. Over the last three games, Broderick Jones has allowed 11 pressures, nearly four pressures per game, which is just not good enough for an offensive line that is already struggling across the board.
“Jones struggled in pass protection for the second consecutive week. While he allowed just two pressures, he was beaten on three other occasions and posted a 32.0 pass-blocking grade on true pass sets. Since he moved to right tackle in Week 8, Jones carries a 38.5 pass-blocking grade on true pass sets, a bottom-10 mark among qualified tackles,” they wrote.
A 6-foot-5, 311-pound Lithonia, Georgia native, the Steelers traded up three spots in the first round to get Jones, sending the 140th pick to the New England Patriots in compensation. Jones was a two-year starter at Georgia, playing right tackle his freshman year before moving to the left. He started his Steelers career behind Moore at left tackle before getting his opportunity on the right side.
That left side is his natural spot, though. And that means he is playing out of position, even if he won’t admit that he feels more comfortable on the left side. That is the first step to getting Jones back on the right track. The second is that his pass protection technique is raw. His hands and feet are not always in sync, which can cause him to drop his head and stop his feet instead of trusting his natural technique. The Steelers will need to coach that out of him, but playing on the other side can reinforce those destructive tendencies.
It’s a bit concerning that Jones is struggling, but he might be hitting that proverbial rookie wall that many guys do hit. On the offensive line, it’s even harder to play at a high level throughout a rookie year consistently. Jones will have a chance to respond in the last two games of the regular season.
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