Tag: broderick jones

Steelers GM Omar Khan says trade up for Broderick Jones came quickly

Omar Khan shared a little of the process for making a quick trade up during a live draft.

When the Pittsburgh Steelers brain trust of general manager Omar Khan and head coach Mike Tomlin addressed the media and noted they aren’t overly interested in trading up in the first round on Thursday. But this wasn’t the case in the 2023 NFL draft.

Last year Pittsburgh moved up from pick No. 17 to pick No. 14 in order to land offensive tackle Broderick Jones. The move came as a big surprise to fans and analysts and according to Khan, this wasn’t planned in advance and came together in a rush.

That one came together on Thursday,” Khan said. “I wouldn’t say with three minutes left on the clock, but it was pretty close to us being on the clock.”

There are a few players we could see the Steelers working a quick trade on Thursday night to land but it won’t be a Jones situation. If wide receiver Rome Odunze or Malik Nabers slides, it would make sense or maybe one of the top offensive tackles forces a repeat of last year.

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Steelers take slightly different approach to their NFL draft board

Steelers beat writer shares how the Steelers put their draft board together.

According to Pittsburgh Steelers beat writer Gerry Dulac, the team will stick to their usual format of how to prepare for the first round of the 2024 NFL draft but it differs some from other front offices.

According to Dulac, rather than run various mock draft scenarios to see which prospects are most likely to be on the board and create a list of that, Pittsburgh will simply rank their 20 best players to ensure they will get one of their top 20 prospects.

The Steelers have several positions they could target and should have their pick of a handful of players when they go on the clock without having to move up. Last year, Pittsburgh targeted former Georgia Offensive tackle Broderick Jones and traded up to get him but we don’t get the impression there are any players they covet enough to do it this time around.

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Steelers HC Mike Tomlin isn’t ready to return Broderick Jones to natural position

There isn’t a sense an urgency from Mike Tomlin to move Broderick Jones back to his natural position.

At one point, many fans believed the Pittsburgh Steelers’ most glaring need was at the tackle position. That is until the team released two-year starting center Mason Cole in February.

There was an aggressive effort by the Steelers to sign Buffalo Bills free agent Mitch Morse, but he left for Jacksonville and signed with the Jaguars. The path to a first-round tackle would’ve been clearer had a deal gotten done, but no movement since the Morse attempt signals a center being the team’s most pressing need.

If that’s how the cards fall in next month’s NFL draft, Dan Moore Jr. will have one more year as Pittsburgh’s starting left tackle. He’s heading into the final year of his contract.

For Broderick Jones, that means another year playing out of position at right tackle, a spot where he had ups and downs as a rookie. Jones took offseason reps at left tackle, but given the more experienced Moore performs better on the left side, it appears that’s where he’ll stay.

Jones came in for Moore, who sustained a Week 4 knee injury and earned his first start the following week versus the Baltimore Ravens. Upon Moore’s return following Pittsburgh’s Week 6 bye, the rookie went back to riding pine.

His next opportunity came at the expense of Chuks Okorafor who was benched for openly criticizing the coaches during the Week 8 loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars.

Jones finished the season with 10 of 11 starts at right tackle (711 snaps).

There isn’t a sense an urgency from Mike Tomlin to move Jones back to his natural left tackle position.

“So much is ahead of us in terms of player acquisition,” Tomlin said via TribLive’s Joe Rutter. “Where any specific player ends up is subject to who else is on our roster.”

The Steelers appear committed to Jones at right tackle, and he has the entire offseason ahead of him to hone his craft. Even if they do draft a tackle, he’ll spend his rookie season on the sideline barring injury.

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Steelers beat writer gives insight on the Dan Moore Jr. situation

The Steelers aren’t likely to replace Dan Moore Jr. in the starting lineup this season.

The Pittsburgh Steelers have turned over a huge number of players this offseason in an attempt to get this team on the winning track in the playoffs. One player who fans debate over a great deal is starting left tackle Dan Moore Jr. Many fans think replacing him is a top priority in the 2024 NFL draft but beat writer Dejan Kovacevic of DK Pittsburgh Sports offered up a counterpoint that many fans won’t like to hear.

The Steelers appreciate Dan Moore so much more than anyone outside their South Side walls. Don’t be anywhere near sure they’re aiming to replace him. Their priority on the offensive line’s at center and, within that, it’ll now shift to the NFL Draft.

Many NFL draft pundits have been mocking an offensive tackle like Georgia’s Amarius Mims to the Steelers in the first round but we’ve stuck to our guns that there are far greater needs like center and wide receiver. The Steelers released Chuks Okorafor which was the right move but just reinforced the notion that the Steelers are committed to Moore, at least for the upcoming season.

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Patriots sign former Steelers OT Chuks Okorafor

Chuks Okorafor was benched by the Steelers last season.

It didn’t take very long for an NFL starting offensive tackle to find work. Former Pittsburgh Steelers starting right tackle Chuks Okorafor has signed a one-year contract with the New England Patriots that could be worth up to $8.35 million.

Okorafor was the Steelers third-round pick in 2018 out of Northwestern. He assumed the starting right tackle job in 2020 and was there for three full seasons. But midway through the 2023 season, Okorafor got benched in favor of Broderick Jones after Okorafor was overheard trashing the team on the sidelines during a game.

Okorafor definitely wasn’t the worst offensive lineman on the team last season but his release was as much about saving money as anything else. The Steelers still need to decide if Dan Moore Jr. is a starter or not but with a more fiscally conservative contract, Pittsburgh is willing to keep him around. Okorafor should compete for a start job immediately with the Patriots.

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Steelers 2024 draft: Trade ‘déjà vu’ lands franchise tackle in Pittsburgh

Stop me if you’ve heard this one before: The Steelers trade up in the NFL draft for a Georgia offensive tackle. 

Stop me if you’ve heard this one before: The Pittsburgh Steelers trade up in the NFL draft for a Georgia offensive tackle.

If it sounds familiar, it’s because it should. In 2023, the Steelers traded up from No. 17 to 14 to select Georgia tackle Broderick Jones. So far, so good on early returns.

The Steelers are projected to send No. 20 and No. 84 to the Seahawks for No. 16 and No. 151 in the latest mock draft from The Athletic’s Dane Brugler. The NFL draft analyst has Pittsburgh selecting Amarius Mims at 20 overall.

“Déjà vu here with the Steelers trading up in Round 1 for a Georgia offensive tackle,” Brugler wrote.

“At 6-8, 340, Mims is the most fascinating player in the draft because of his special traits. The body of work (eight starts) might not be there, but if he had a deeper resume, a team like the Steelers wouldn’t have a shot to get him this late.”

Pittsburgh selecting Mims, no matter in what order, would allow Jones to return to his natural left tackle position, which Omar Khan alluded to happening — eventually. Knowing the Steelers, however, it’ll take an injury or subpar performances for Mims to be plugged into the starting lineup. Unless they’re wise and start offseason training with Jones at left and Mims at right. That would mean trading Dan Moore Jr. for future draft capital or relegating him to reserves.

But let’s not put the cart before the (6-feet-8) horse. The Steelers have to draft him first.

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There isn’t much history of NFL teams trading down from the 14th pick

There isn’t much history of NFL teams trading down from the 14th overall pick, but this is a good year for the Saints to try it:

If there’s ever been a year for Mickey Loomis to break his streak of NFL drafts without a trade down (dating back to 2007!), it’s this one: the New Orleans Saints are getting perilously older at multiple positions and they’re short on draft picks. Restocking the roster is going to be tough with just two picks in the top four rounds.

At the same time, the 2024 draft class is remarkably top-heavy. A historically small class of underclassmen declaring has winnowed the talent available in the later rounds, where the Saints expect to have most of their selections once compensatory draft picks are announced in a week or two. Some crafty maneuvering — moving down early on, packaging those later picks to move up in the middle rounds — could pay off in a big way.

But beyond Loomis continuing to snub trade offers and move down, there isn’t much historical precedent for trading out of the 14th pick. We went back and studied every draft class since 2004 to get an idea of what the Saints could ask for in a trade down in 2024:

Steelers GM Omar Khan reveals future plans for Broderick Jones

Omar Khan says the Steelers view Broderick Jones as a left tackle.

On Thursday, Pittsburgh Steelers general manager Omar Khan addressed the media at the 2024 NFL Scouting Combine and addressed the future plans for current starting right tackle Broderick Jones.

Jones was drafted in the first round of the 2023 NFL draft and was the starting left tackle for the Georgia Bulldogs. But when the Steelers needed him in the second half of 2023, he stepped in for Chuks Okorafor and was tremendous.

But according to Khan, Jones is a left tackle and that’s where the team wants him to end up

Versatility on the offensive line is important, and he proved that he could play right tackle, but he was drafted to be a left tackle and, eventually, he will be a left tackle. When that is, time will tell.

 

If you connect the dots it wouldn’t be a far-flung assumption to make that the Steelers could be looking to add offensive tackle Amaraius Mims in the 2024 NFL draft. Mims was the starting right tackle at Georgia opposite Jones and might be the best pure right tackle in the draft.

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Steelers officially release OT Chuks Okorafor

The Steelers benched Chuks Okorafor last season after being the regular starter from 2020 on.

On Tuesday, the NFL transaction wire noted that the Pittsburgh Steelers had officially released offensive tackle Chuks Okorafor. This comes a week after it was first reported that Okorafor was set to be released as a way to cut some salary cap.

The move frees up $8.75 million in salary cap space and gets the Steelers closer to cap compliance. The team still needs to trim around $4 million more to hit the break-even point.

Okorafor was benched back in late October after a humbling loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars. Okorafor was overheard criticizing the team from the sidelines. Was this a valid reason to sit him down or was this just an excuse to hand the job over to then-rookie Broderick Jones? We will never know.

With Okorafor gone, it leaves Jones and Dan Moore Jr. as the only viable offensive tackles on the roster and makes this a top offseason need.

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The Steelers might already have their new offensive tackle on the team

Should the Steelers convert Darnell Washington to offensive tackle?

Back in 1971, the Pittsburgh Steelers drafted tight end Larry Brown in the fifth round of the NFL draft. Brown spent his first six seasons with the Steelers as a tight end, amassing just 48 receptions.

Head coach Chuck Noll didn’t give up on Brown. Instead, he converted the big strong run blocker into a right tackle where he started 85 games over the next eight seasons. He even made the Pro Bowl in 1982 and was enshrined into the Steelers Ring of Honor in 2019.

Why does all this matter? Because the Steelers currently have tight end Darnell Washington on the roster and he could be a prime candidate for a similar position change.

Washington was selected in the third round of the 2023 NFL draft. Washington is a mountain of a man at 6-foot-7, 265 pounds and a devastating run blocker. Pittsburgh also drafted Washington’s teammate, offensive tackle Broderick Jones in the first round of the same draft and he is entrenched in the starting lineup after a strong rookie campaign.

But with the team releasing Chuks Okorafor and the inconsistent play of Dan Moore Jr. on the left side, there is still plenty of work to be done. It might not be a switch that can happen in a single offseason but we love the idea of Washington making the switch.

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