NOVEMBER 30: Jones’ neck injury is more serious than originally thought, per Gerry Dulac of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. He will be miss the remainder of the season as a result.
NOVEMBER 29: The Steelers placed left tackle Broderick Jones on injured reserve and elevated cornerback Asante Samuel Jr. from the practice squad for Sunday’s game against the Bills, per a team announcement.
The 2023 first-round pick will miss at least four games due to his IR placement. His earliest return would come in Week 17 against the Browns.
Jones suffered a neck injury during Pittsburgh’s Week 12 loss to the Bears. Six-year veteran Calvin Anderson closed out the game, but head coach Mike Tomlin said on Saturday that Andrus Peat would take over blind side duties in Week 13.
Jones, 24, started the Steelers’ first 11 games of the season, allowing six sacks and 23 pressures in 356 pass-blocking opportunities, per Pro Football Focus (subscription required). His 95.9 pass block efficiency is not much better than his 95.3 marks in the previous two season.
Peat will start at left tackle in the meantime. He has barely played in the last two years, but started 11 games at left tackle in New Orleans in 2023. He allowed two sacks and 30 pressures in 459 pass-blocking opportunities, per PFF, suggesting he can be a solid but unspectacular fill-in for Jones.
Samuel, 26, will make his 2025 debut against the Bills He was cleared from offseason spinal fusion surgery at the beginning of November and signed with the Steelers after taking visits with a number of teams. Sunday’s game will be Samuel’s first action in over a year and the Steelers are entering Week 13 with a relatively healthy cornerback room. As a result, he may not see much action, though Pittsburgh may try to get him in the game so he can reacclimate to the field. That would also give the Steelers a chance to evaluate Samuel and see what he can contribute for the rest of the year.
The worse part of jones injury is it looked self inflicted. A defender jumped in front of him and it appeared as though jones tried to head butt him in the chest. This guy has been a total bust.
Steelers have had a pretty bad track record over the last 10ish years of drafting and developing first round talent. They didn’t help this guy, who was on the raw side of the talent scale, by flip flopping him from one side to the other then back, either.
I was a Tomlin guy for a number of years but at some point, reality sets in. He benefitted greatly from guys Cowher and Colbert had in place here and most of their draft picks just haven’t panned out well
They look to be in need of a whole host of positions in the coming draft. Certainly, this kid was as you pointed out, a raw talent that hasn’t worked out. I’m not sure Fautanu is much better. Add in a top flight receiver to take some pressure off of DK, secondary help and of course, QB, and it’s likely they’ll stay in the “mushy middle” for some time
I tend to think the selection of Pickett as a 1st rounder was a 5-year mistake. They have to draft and develop as none of this crop coming up via the draft looks like a ready-made starter type. But you never know
More than anything else, they need a complete overhaul, from Tomlin down. The hard-headedness in personnel matters, strategies and game planning and decisions is often mystifying. I know national media and some portion of fans are thrilled with the “18 years and never a losing record” shtick, but it’s meaningless
Try watching this offense week in and week out without thinking somehow, some way, there must be a better way of doing things