If you thought Broderick Jones was hard to watch in the first seven games of the season, you haven't seen anything yet. With a chance to redeem himself against a suspect New York Giants defense, Jones gave us a new career-worst performance.
His struggles began on the very first drive of the game. After the Steelers marched the length of the field, Russell Wilson threw an 11-yard touchdown pass to George Pickens. Unfortunately, the score was nullified by a Jones facemask penalty that was completely unnecessary. Pittsburgh settled for a field goal on this drive.
As the first half marched on, Jones' performance went from bad to worse. There were pass block sets where he hardly laid a finger on the opposing Giants defender he was lined up against and running plays where Jones was bullied into the backfield.
The collection of these despicable plays gave Jones arguably the worst outing of his young NFL career. Now the question must be asked: how long can the Steelers afford to keep him in the starting lineup?
Steelers have a legitimate Broderick Jones problem
While we would love to be optimistic about a second-year offensive tackle who has good size and athletic traits, we haven't seen a lick of improvement from Jones since he entered the league as the 14th overall pick in the 2023 NFL Draft. In fact, he has visibly gotten worse.
The once-promising tackle has taken a massive step back to the point where he can no longer be trusted to execute his assignment on a play-by-play basis.
Had 2024 first-round OT Troy Fautanu not suffered a season-ending knee injury, there's no doubt that Jones would be watching from the sidelines right now. However, because of all the injuries to the offensive line and a severe lack of depth at the position, the Steelers have no choice but to stick with Jones... for now.
Unfortunately, it's no longer a question of if or when Broderick will turn things around; rather, it's when can they get this guy out of the lineup. Dan Moore Jr., who was one of the league's worst starting tackles in his first three seasons, has taken a step forward and is clearly better than Jones.
We've seen enough and improvements aren't coming. Broderick Jones is just a bad football player and one of the most detrimental players on the Pittsburgh Steelers in 2024.