Pittsburgh Steelers Hope First-Round Pick Broderick Jones Bolsters ‘Picket Fence’

The Pittsburgh Steelers would like to build, shall we say, a Pickett Fence.

Or more specifically a fence of talented linemen in front of second-year quarterback Kenny Pickett.

The Steelers took a step toward reinforcing that fence when they selected Georgia offensive tackle Broderick Jones in the first round of the NFL Draft on Thursday night. Rookie general manager Omar Khan was aggressive in making sure the Steelers got in position to take Jones during his first time running their draft.

The Steelers were originally slotted to pick at No. 17, but Khan swung a trade with the New England Patriots to move up three places. The Steelers gave the Patriots the No. 17 selection as well along with a fourth-round selection that is the 120^th overall pick.

The Steelers took Jones with the 14^th choice, fearing the New York Jets would have nabbed him at No. 15.

“Broderick was a player that we had identified could be a great addition to our team,” Khan said. “When we saw how the draft was going and he was still sitting there, we started to make some phone calls to see if there was an opportunity to trade up and get him.

“You just make phone calls and get a feeling for what people are willing to do. Some clubs are a no, other clubs are a maybe. You just stay close to the phone and stay in contact with the clubs that might be interested. It just so happened that with New England, it worked out.”

Jones will almost certainly supplant one of the two Steelers’ starting tackles, Dan Moore and Chukwuma Okorafor, in the lineup next season after Pittsburgh went 9-8 in 2022 but missed the playoffs. The duo has started each of the last two seasons.

In Pro Football Focus’ grades, Moore was just the NFL’s 57^th-best offensive tackle last season and Okorafor ranked No. 60.

Steelers quarterbacks were sacked 38 times in 17 games, which was 17^th in the league, a middle-of-the-pack figure. Pickett was taken down 27 times in 13 games but suffered two concussions in his rookie season.

The concussions were enough for the Steelers to make strengthening the “Pickett Fence” a priority.

The 6-foot-5, 311-pound Jones was a starter on back-to-back national championship teams during his two seasons on Georgia’s active roster. He was redshirted as a freshman.

Jones is considered an exceptional athlete for his size. He was timed at 4.97 seconds in the 40-yard dash at the NFL Scouting Combine while recording a 30-inch vertical jump and a nine-foot broad jump.

This is the first time the Steelers chose an offensive lineman in the first round since taking guard David DeCastro in 2012 from Stanford. He had a nine-year NFL career, all with the Steelers, and was named All-Pro twice and selected to six Pro Bowls.

The Steelers would be thrilled if Jones had a similar career.

“He’s got a competitor’s mentality,” Steelers coach Mike Tomlin said. “He’s wired right for this line of work. He’s got a desire to be great. He’s highly competitive. There’s a reason he put himself in that environment (at Georgia). He’s in the winning business. He values that.”