Aside from the play of the quarterbacks, Russell Wilson and Justin Fields, a lot of the conversation about the Pittsburgh Steelers the last few days has centered around the bad preseason Week 2 performance of right tackle Broderick Jones.
Jones was dreadful last Saturday against the Buffalo Bills, with the second-year right tackle surrendering three pressures, two of which resulted in sacks. Jones is currently sporting a brace on his elbow as he deals with an injury, so that could explain why he struggled so much.
Nevertheless, Jones remains a major concern ahead of Week 1, and he offered what is nothing short of a troubling update on his elbow issue on Tuesday.
“I’m as healthy as I’m going to get with the season coming up,” he said, according to Mike DeFabo of The Athletic. “Everybody’s always playing week-in and week-out with some minor injury.”
Broderick Jones said he’s wearing the brace due to an injury: “I’m as healthy as I’m going to get with the season coming up. Everybody’s always playing week-in and week-out with some minor injury.”
— Mike DeFabo (@MikeDeFabo) August 20, 2024
Jones added that his injury is “nothing major,” but also said that he’s dealing with “multiple things,” according to Chris Adamski of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review.
Jones may have one more opportunity to right the ship and instill some confidence if he plays in preseason Week 3 on Saturday night. But if he fails to rebound, the Steelers might be better served sitting him until he’s fully healthy.
Troy Fautanu is dealing with his own injury at the moment, but the expectation is that he’ll be ready to go by Week 1. And, the Steelers are already reportedly planning on starting him right away at right tackle.
Pittsburgh could keep that plan in place and begin the year with Dan Moore at left tackle until Jones is 100%. Of course, that’s a less than ideal scenario considering how much Moore has struggled in recent years, but he has played well during the preseason and might be a better option at left tackle than an injured Jones.
According to Pro Football Focus, Moore has the eighth-highest pass-blocking grade among all offensive tackles in exhibition play and he has yet to give up a pressure. Now, that doesn’t mean he’ll automatically keep that up and become a reliable offensive lineman once the regular season starts, but it is encouraging.
Hopefully Jones makes it easy on the Steelers and plays much better this weekend, but that’s far from a guarantee after what we saw last week.
