Even if he didn’t gain 1st-team status, 1st-round pick Broderick Jones satisfied with his preseason

Barring an injury or something else unforeseen, for the second consecutive season, the Pittsburgh Steelers’ first-round pick likely will not play in their regular-season opener.

Kenny Pickett did not get off the bench as the backup quarterback during the Week 1 win at the Cincinnati Bengals last year. And when the Steelers open the 2023 season at home against the San Francisco 49ers on Sept. 10, Broderick Jones is expected to be a reserve offensive lineman.

Aside from Pickett, the only Steelers rookie first-round pick over the past 20 years not to play in the season opener was David DeCastro in 2012. DeCastro was projected to start at guard for the Steelers as a rookie but had suffered a torn knee ligament during a preseason game.

Jones has been taking second-team reps at left tackle throughout training camp and the preseason, with incumbent starter Dan Moore Jr. holding onto the job.

“Dan is great,” Jones said. “We don’t look at it as a competition. Because at the end of the day, both of us have a job to do. It comes down to the best man at the end of the day. No hard feelings between me and him.”

Jones said the biggest thing he learned from Moore — who has started each of his two seasons since being a fourth-round pick of the Steelers — was proper hand usage in pass protection.

“That was the biggest emphasis for me when I first got here,” Jones said. “Being more hands on, using my hands, trying to fix that within the techniques.”

Broderick Jones isn’t concerned about the grind of an NFL season - he contends that Georgia has harder practices than the Steelers pic.twitter.com/5q3VxzcJ4p

— Chris Adamski (@C_AdamskiTrib) August 28, 2023

Assuming Jones does not start Sept. 10, he would join Pickett as the only Steelers first-round picks since Artie Burns in 2016 to be on the bench for a season opener.

But with 16 games to follow, it’s virtually impossible to believe that a healthy Jones won’t get into games at some point this autumn. Regardless of how it plays out, Jones is eager for his first NFL regular season to begin.

“I am excited for it,” Jones said. “I really won’t know (what to expect) until the real season starts and the ball gets to kicking, and we just get to playing. Week after week. It’s just long, but I went through that at Georgia (so) it’s really not as bad as you might think it is. Practices aren’t as bad (in the pros) as in college.”

Hey, Steelers Nation, get the latest news about the Pittsburgh Steelers here.