Steelers 2-a-days: Will Broderick Jones start Week 1? Can Manny Jones work into DL mix?
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Editor’s note: From the end of minicamp through the day the team reports to training camp at Saint Vincent College, the Trib will be running through the Pittsburgh Steelers’ 90-man roster, assessing each player’s outlook for the 2023 season. The breakdown will go through the roster in mostly alphabetical order, (at least) two per day, between June 16 and July 26. Contract data courtesy spotrac.com.
OT BRODERICK JONES
Experience: Rookie
Contract status: $3.02 million cap hit in 2023, signed through 2026 with team option for 2027
2023 outlook: Jones (6-foot-5, 311 pounds) has talent and pedigree (14th overall draft pick) that are quickly apparent on a practice field. The Steelers traded up four picks to ensure they got him in the draft, the rare instance in recent years that offensive line was prioritized. It’s a matter of time before Jones becomes a starter, but will it happen by Week 1 of this season?
Incumbent starting left tackle Dan Moore Jr. had by many indications a strong offseason and session of summer workouts. And for all Jones’ strengths and his positive long-term outlook, he only recently turned 21 years old and has only one season as a college starter (aside from four starts late in the 2021 season) on his résumé. Also Moore (still just 24) has gotten significantly more NFL game reps than Jones did at Georgia, and that is in addition to starting twice as many SEC games as Jones.
That’s all to say that Jones perhaps isn’t a finished product ready to jump right into a role as a franchise left tackle. Barring a collapse, he most certainly is the left tackle of the future, probably for a decade or more. But for 2023, it will be interesting to watch when (if?) he usurps Moore. Many initially predicted that Jones would be getting first-team reps by now.
Perhaps an assimilation period in which Jones serves as a “third tight end/extra tackle” is in order. The Steelers like to do that with their young, developing tackles, but they’ve never had one with as much pure talent as Jones. Make no mistake, Jones is the real deal. In the context of this upcoming training camp alone, though, it’s not assured he will be with the first team.
Jones believes the culture created at Georgia can help him become a better player with the #Steelers. https://t.co/IzbahvpehZ
— Tribune-Review Sports (@TribSports) April 29, 2023
DL MANNY JONES
Experience: Appeared in four regular-season games for Arizona as a rookie last season
Contract status: $870,000 cap hit if he makes the team in 2023
2023 outlook: Jones was claimed off waivers from the Cardinals in May after Renell Wren suffered a season-ending Achilles injury, and Jones slots in with a similar résumé of a player with some limited NFL experience fighting to stick with the Steelers as a depth defensive linemen.
A four-year starter at Colorado State, Jones (6-4, 290) signed with Arizona as an undrafted free agent. He didn’t make the 53-man roster out of training camp — not unexpected for an undrafted player — but was added to the practice squad and three times earned promotions to the active roster once the season started. He played 59 defensive snaps (plus nine on special teams) over four regular-season games, making six tackles (two solo).
It is of note that Jones is listed as the same size as DeMarvin Leal, a player who might portend the modern Steelers front-seven end. Draft analysts considered Jones’ athleticism to be NFL caliber and applauded his energy and effort in their film study of him. An early 2023 projection for Jones is a spot on the Steelers’ practice squad this fall.
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