Complaining about an NFL coaching staff is nothing new to football fans. After not finding playoff success in nearly a decade, Pittsburgh Steelers fans have had enough. Ultimately, falling short in the postseason yet again led to the end of the Mike Tomlin era, and Mike McCarthy was hired to take his place.
One of the complaints fans routinely raised about Tomlin's previous coaching staff was that he failed to develop young talent. Broderick Jones was a prime example. The Steelers flip-flopped Jones from left tackle to right and back to left again—favoring veterans like Dan Moore Jr. over Broderick's development.
Jones has also done little to clean up his technique since coming into the NFL... and Brian Schottenheimer agrees.
The Dallas Cowboys head coach recently spoke to the media, where he praised Jones. Schottenheimer has high hopes for his trade acquisition from the Steelers, but he also took a subtle jab at Jones' coaching in Pittsburgh, noting that his staff will have to 'retrain' Jones in Dallas.
"[Broderick Jones] would just eat up all the coaching they could give him. He’s doing terrific. There are some techniques he’s been taught that we’re having to retrain, and usually it takes a minute, but in terms of the athlete and young man, I’m sold," Schottenheimer said.
Dallas Cowboys HC Brian Schottenheimer took a subtle jab at the Pittsburgh Steelers' previous coaching staff
We can take this one of two ways: either Schotty is simply noting that Jones is switching schemes and thus he will have to learn some new techniques, or the Steelers' previous coaching staff didn't have him where he needed to be at this stage of his career.
And judging by what we know about Broderick' sloppiness and lack of refinement, I'd say it's the latter.
Despite being in the NFL for four years, Jones' technique and mechanics aren't much better than they were during his senior season at Georgia in 2022. Too often, Jones is late off the ball, lunges over his feet, or has trouble recovering on counter moves.
Before James Campen and Jari Evans were hired this offseason to run the offensive line for McCarthy's team, Jones was at the mercy of Pat Meyer, who was the OL coach from 2022 through 2025. Even though the Steelers spent extravagant resources on the offensive line in recent years, the unit never produced the performances we wanted to see on the field.
Of course, nobody deserves a bigger portion of the blame than Jones himself. A coaching staff can only control so much of what a player does or how they learn, and at some point, he needed to get with the program.
Who knows? Perhaps Schottenheimer can unlock something with Jones that the Pittsburgh Steelers failed to do over the past three seasons. Just last year, George Pickens had a remarkable campaign in his first year in Dallas after leaving the Steelers.
Schottenheimer probably didn't mean his comments as a slight against Mike Tomlin and the Steelers' previous coaching regime, but the fact that he mentioned needing to retrain the techniques Jones has been taught is telling.
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