Steelers Now
UNITY TWP., Pa. — Should the Pittsburgh Steelers be concerned about a perceived slow start to training camp for left tackle Broderick Jones?
The answer is clearly no. And also just as clearly, yes.
Clear as mud, right?
There’s no reason to have any concerns about what Jones has done on the field the first four days of training camp. Evaluating the play of an offensive lineman without pads on is specious at best.
I asked Mike Tomlin about rookie defensive tackle Derrick Harmon on Sunday, but you can apply this quote to just about any of the team’s big men thus far:
“The big man game is played in pads, and I’m looking forward to seeing him and others under those circumstances. Not to discount what he’s done, but that’s such a major component of his job description.”
Further compounding that is the fact that when they’re not wearing pads, the Steelers call passes on the vast majority of plays, and Jones has always been a better run blocker. It’s not an environment conducive to evaluating any lineman, but it’s a specifically poor way to judge him.
There’s also no real reason at this point to be concerned about the soft-tissue injury that caused Jones to leave practice early on Sunday. There’s a lot of practices before the start of the regular season, and missing a couple in July won’t hurt anyone much.
So, no big deal, right? Not quite.
The problem is not that the Steelers should be concerned about Jones’ play and/or minor injury through four days of training camp. The problem is that they should have had deep reservations about going into the season with Jones as their locked-in starter and really only option at left tackle in the first place.
Jones has been a far better run blocker than a pass protector throughout his pro and college career. That’s not the type of player that’s best suited to play left tackle in general.
He also has shown an alarming propensity to just totally whiff on plays, whether that’s getting the snap count wrong, or the play wrong, or just getting his feet and hands so far out of sync than the best he can do is yell “look out.”
That’s what happened on one rep early in camp against Alex Highsmith that has been making the rounds on social media and causing a stir among the fanbase.
That play isn’t representative of the body of work that Jones has put forth so far this camp. He’s pretty much looked like he always has. But that’s the problem.
Jones needs to get a lot better to justify being put in ink as the team’s starting left tackle. And make no mistake, he is in ink. Calvin Anderson and Dylan Cook do not even look to represent strong backup options at this point, let alone potential starters.
Trades for starting tackles at this point of the calendar are unheard of, and the free agent market is awfully...
