Benching Broderick Jones is the only way to save his Steelers career

The Steelers' tackle room has become the subject of a lot of frustration this year. After finally investing in the group over the last two seasons, the team has also decided that position versatility is more important than development seemingly, as the offense has stressed players being able to play both sides. For former first-round pick Broderick Jones, this is proving to be a detriment.

Jones was deemed a raw tackle prospect with all of the traits you wanted in a cornerstone left tackle, but he needed to build off his short college resume. Despite the Steelers selecting him with the intention of making him the left tackle of the future, he has mostly played right tackle. As a rookie a year ago, this was a necessity, but heading into the offseason it seemed as though the team could settle him into the left side.

This was even more likely after the team took Troy Fautanu in the first round of this past draft and very early on pegged him as the right tackle. While he also got juggled around a bit, he was predominantly used on the right side, and that appears to be his spot moving forward. Dan Moore, meanwhile, was still playing on the left side and was expected to be the backup.

Instead of moving Jones to the left side though, the Steelers kept on moving him all over the place. It was apparent that this was negatively impacting his play, as he was bad in the preseason and his play hasn’t gotten any better in the regular season, culminating in him getting benched.

Why the Steelers need to keep Jones on the bench

In all honesty, we seem really close to having the wheels fall off of this entire situation right now. Jones is clearly upset with how he has been used, and Pittsburgh seems to be spinning in the mud with him right now. The best solution to salvage any of this is to keep him on the bench for now.

Jones clearly isn’t comfortable right now playing, and forcing him out there seems like a blunder. This is especially so with Fautanu playing well in his debut. Alternating them was a horrible idea, and I wouldn’t be shocked if that furthered the issues that Jones was already having.

Moore is also having the best start to a season in his career. He has only allowed one pressure and penalty through the first two games, and he has been one of the most consistent offensive linemen so far. While fans irrationally hate him, he is playing well right now and deserves to remain as the starting left tackle.

You can still get Jones on the field as a tackle-eligible, but frankly, right now, I want him to have the pressure of seeing the field off and for the team to do a soft reset with him. Fautanu is the right tackle moving forward, and Dylan Cook should be back from injured reserve sooner than later to serve as the primary backup at right tackle if need be.

Jones can now only focus on left tackle, even if that is just as a backup for now. And that is the way the tea should keep it assuming Moore keeps up his strong start to the season. If he falters, then you can try Jones again later in the year. If not, he gets the remainder of this year and the beginning of next year to relearn the left side of the line.

Tackles can take a while to get up to speed, and you really can’t underestimate just how raw he was in college. He isn’t going to succeed when he has to move sides every other practice though. The Steelers need to commit to him on the left side right now. If not, the first draft pick of the Omar Khan era could quickly head into bust territory given his inability to be properly developed.