This is a big year for Broderick Jones

This will likely be a make-or-break year for Jones, they're going to find out if he's their LT of the future. They can't afford to miss on him they need him and Fautanu to be their bookends, after the season they will need to make a decision whether or not to pick up Jones 5th year option.

 

Tackles are expensive (so is the entire OL when it comes to 5th year options, since they don't differentiate between the three positions), and currently rank behind only QBs when it comes to option year amounts. If Jones plays in 50% of the snaps or more he'll qualify for the second tier option. If he makes the Pro Bowl, he steps up to the third. This year the second tier for OL was $17.5M; the third was $21.2M.

He'll likely qualify for second tier, which will probably be $18M next year.

 

It's just amazing how good of a draft that year was. Who do we have left on the team?

 

All of them at the moment.

 

Huge year, time to put up or shut up.

 

He doesn't deserve it up to this point.

 

I have the feeling one way or another it will be an easy decision

 

I had heard of the tier rankings, but was not sure how they made the tier designations, unless he sucks really bad I do not think picking up the option is going to be a big decision, Dan Moore was not the best, but certainly not the worst and look at the contract he got. He certainly has to show growth, but these guys are not a dime a dozen either.

 

Actually it’s about 8.1M dimes a dozen

 

Broderick Jones panning out does wonders for Pittsburgh's Draft Plans for 2026. Broderick Jones not panning out will have a cataclysmic effect on those very same draft plans. Do or die for Broderick.


He was, and still is, my favorite player that Khan has selected. Not because he was Khan's first ever pick but because of the fact that I believed that Broderick Jones wasn't going to make it to Pittsburgh leading up to the 2023 NFL Draft. He is simply way too gifted and talented for me to throw the towel on him.


Tomlin botching his development hasn't helped. That said, he himself has had his own issues; hand placement and ducking his head at the point of contact when engaging blocks being his two biggest shortcomings still. He has to put it all together.


Here is hoping he can.

 

That's where guards and centers get a bit of a boost in that the range of top salaries considered for fifth-year options includes all offensive linemen. Currently the top guard APY is $23M, while the top center is $18M - there are seven tackles whose APY is north of $23M. It's not uncommon for teams to shift linemen to different slots along the line early in their careers, but I see a snap count provision to determine position being added somewhere in a future CBA.

There are four tiers. The first is the base, the second is based on snap count percentage, the third if the player makes one Pro Bowl, the fourth if they make two or more.

I tend to agree on Jones. At first I thought they'd be best agreeing on an extension - and depending on his performance this year that might still be the case - but seeing Moore, Jr. get a 4yr/$82M contract with over 50% guaranteed changed the landscape a bit.

 

It will be interesting for sure, he was drafted knowing he needed development, now he goes to LT, how much progress has he made and how far will he go. I think the question of extension will be based not so much on great play, but continual solid growth and improvement. The extension is expensive and guaranteed, but is less than even midlevel performers, so i he is growing and the potential is still through the roof you better take that extra yea, or if you already see it try and extend early, the cost is only going to go up.

 

Agreed.


For that matter, people who were shocked at Dan Moore's huge payday are only looking at the forest though the trees and not looking at the forest atop the mountains. Even solid Offensive Tackle play is very difficult to come by. For example, Ikem Ekwonu was the 6th overall pick in the 2022 NFL Draft. Given how he was a Top 10 selection, one would expect him to have either a Pro Bowl nod or an All Pro to his name. He has neither. However, the Panthers just recently picked up Ikem's fifth year option despite him not fully living up to his draft status. That said, he has been a rock solid Offensive Tackle.






I myself have watched a couple of Panthers games both in Ickey's Rookie Season and this one; 2023 being omitted for I was paying too much attention to Broderick. Night and day difference for Ekwonu. Long story short?! Great Offensive Tackle play in a league that very starved for it is comically rare; potentially even more rare than Superstar WRs. Only great Offensive Tackles that come to mind are Jordan Mailata, Tristian Wirfs, Penei Sewell and, to a lesser extent, Laremy Tunsil.

 

How so

 

If you want to put this into perspective... Dan Moore just signed for $82 million with $50 million guaranteed.

$17.5 million doesn't seem so high right now.

 

It can be, but it's also a premium position because it's the primary protector of the most important position on the field.*

That said, I still think the Titans overpaid. The market wasn't the greatest, but that makes it a bit stranger that they elected to give him the biggest OT contract of this FA period by $5M in APY.

You can point to people like Ekwonu, but he at least has the pre-draft performance that suggests he could be finally starting to acclimate to the next level (as we're hoping Jones shows this year), not to mention his worst year is equal to Moore's best, per PFF.

Moore, Jr
2021: 57.5
2022: 62.4
2023: 54.4
2024: 67.2


* Granted, the FO has shown how concerned they are about spending on the latter...maybe that's Khan's strategy: Jones has a great year but Khan haggles him down from $20M+/year by pointing out they've spent under $15M for the entire QB room each of the past two years. Brilliant!

 

A young raw Offensive Tackle with the fewest starts to be picked within the Top 20 in over a decade gets his position switched as opposed to learning behind a veteran. I understand that the team didn't have a veteran Swing Tackle but at the time. However, such a move could have been made after the draft. Reaching out to Kelvin Beachum would have been a good start as he has played both spots in his long NFL Tenure.


Remember that, generally speaking, Offensive Tackles taken within the Top 15 usually have over 25 starts total. Broderick came in with less than 20 coming out of Georgia. Of those 20 or less, only one full season's worth of experience as a Left Tackle. Asking him to switch to another position was not a good idea; doubly so given his raw inexperience.


Fast forward to 2025 and Broderick now has more experience on the Right Side of the Offensive Line than he does on the Left. He is back at his Natural Position but to expect a player to essentially re learn the finite points of playing that position is going to be one of the more underrated storylines for Broderick Jones heading into the season. Keep in mind that, while in terms of both Offensive and Defensive preparation, Left Tackle and Right Tackle have little to no difference anymore. That said, that doesn't mean players who have played a specific position for a long period of time can simply flip over and the results will be the same. A lot changes from even that action; hand placement, which hand to strike with first, how to properly anchor, which foot to anchor with first, body control from going one direction laterally to another, leverage control going from one direction to another, etc.


I am rooting hard for Broderick Jones. He isn't without blame as I said. However, how Tomlin has nicked his development shouldn't be forgotten; doubly so as he has done before.