Jones at piece with benching, future with Steelers

Four days after suffering the humiliation of getting pulled from a game — mid-series — by an angry coach to cap a week in which he was demoted from first-team status, Broderick Jones was taking the situation in stride.

“(Shoot), I played bad,” Jones said of his disastrous offensive series during Sunday’s Pittsburgh Steelers win. “That’s all that matters at the end of the day.

“You (mess) up, you get pulled.”

Still just 23 years old, Jones on Thursday conveyed appropriate perspective and took responsibility both for ceding the starting right tackle job to standout rookie Troy Fautanu and for taking three penalties over a six-snap span in the first half of this past Sunday’s game at the Denver Broncos.

Having Mike Tomlin remove him from the game was the insult to the initial injury of watching Fautanu make the start at right tackle — a position at which Jones took over for the final 10 games of his rookie season last year.

“I’ve just got to be better,” he said. “Continue to grow as a player and grow as a man and take the good with the bad.”

With Fautanu now affixed atop the official depth chart at right tackle, Jones confirmed he is spending this week taking reps at both right and left tackle. He has taken over as the “swing” backup to starting left tackle Dan Moore Jr. and Fautanu.

That’s not quite the career track Jones surely envisioned when the Steelers traded up to select him with the 14th overall draft pick just 17 months ago.

Still, Jones is not brooding or complaining or projecting that he believes he’s been treated wrongly.

The way Jones sees it, Fautanu has been better. Simple as that.

“I am all right,” Jones said. “Just taking things day by day right now, trying to put that 1% in each and every day to try to become the best version of me, and just go from there.”

Jones was projected as the Steelers’ left tackle of the future when he arrived, but Moore’s solid play contributed to Jones beginning last season as the swing backup before taking over for veteran Chuks Okorafor midway through his rookie 2023 season.

Now, he’s back on the bench.

“ ‘Brod’ is a professional, and Brod knows it is literally just one or two minor technique things (to address) — and then he (will be) playing the best of anyone on the entire offense,” veteran right guard James Daniels said. “Brod is just going to keep on grinding and working. And when he gets another chance, he is going to take advantage of it.”

There is nothing definitive about when that opportunity might arise. Fautanu, this year’s first-round pick, has blown away the Steelers with his athleticism and preparedness. Moore, in his fourth season as a starter, has given the staff no reason to bench him.

One role for Jones that is highly unlikely to return is one in rotating every third series or so in place of Fautanu. Tomlin said he planned on that for the Denver game because of the altitude and that he was unconvinced of Fautanu’s conditioning level as a player who was making his NFL debut after missing several weeks because of a knee injury suffered in the first half of his preseason debut.

Jones on Thursday reiterated he would prefer not to be part of a rotation — but not because he doesn’t want to play or doesn’t want to be a backup.

The way Jones sees it, if Fautanu is the better player — and the coaches have made that determination — he should play. Period.

“I just feel like, this is the NFL,” Jones said. “If somebody’s not hurt or something like that, I just feel like (the starter) should be able to get into their groove and continue to just play throughout the game.

“I am not saying (a rotation) a bad thing (in every circumstance), but it’s just something that I would rather not do myself. But whatever coach says, you gotta try to uphold that standard and do it to the best of your ability.”

Jones lauded the communication skills of Tomlin and the rest of the coaching staff for keeping him in the loop and being open and honest about the situation. He also said he still believes the organization maintains faith Jones will be a future starter for them.

“I never lost confidence in myself,” he said, “and I don’t feel like they lost confidence in me.”