Pittsburgh Steelers starting left tackle Broderick Jones suffered a “setback” to a neck injury that ended his 2025 season six weeks early, and his status for training camp and potentially the start of the regular season is unknown.
Jones did not play the remainder of last season after leaving a Nov. 23 game at the Chicago Bears. He was soon thereafter placed on injured reserve, and it was known Jones was working to rehab throughout the spring.
The Steelers’ voluntary minicamp began Monday. Teams that hire new coaches — as the Steelers have in Mike McCarthy — are permitted the three extra days of team on-field sessions, and it is apparent that Jones will not be participating.
According to ESPN citing unnamed sources, Jones is “scheduled to be examined this week to determine whether he will be ready for training camp and/or the start of the season.”
The Steelers traded up to select Jones with the No. 14 overall pick in the 2023 draft — Omar Khan’s first as Steelers general manager — with the idea he would be their long-term left tackle of the future. Jones played primarily at right tackle his first two seasons, but even lost that job in 2024 to that year’s first-round pick, Troy Fautanu (regaining it after Fautanu suffered a season-ending injury).
But after Dan Moore Jr. was allowed to leave in free agency last spring, Jones took over at left tackle. Though he struggled mightily in the regular-season opener at the New York Jets, Jones had the appearance of settling in and was playing arguably the best of his career in the middle portions of last season.
Then came the injury early during the fourth quarter of a late-November defeat at Soldier Field. Then-coach Mike Tomlin initially characterized the ailment as “a stinger.” By the end of that week, Jones was placed on injured reserve, which requires an absence of at least four games.
Though Tomlin was reluctant to confirm as much, it soon became apparent Jones would not play the rest of the season.
Veteran Adrus Peat started the first two games in Jones’ stead but suffered his own injury, with Dylan Cook filling in for his first NFL regular-season action. Then 27 years old and a former junior-college quarterback who’d spent most of the past three seasons on the Steelers’ practice squad and/or injured reserve, Cook started the final five games (including playoffs) of the Steelers season.
Sitting with the 21st overall pick in this week’s draft, the Steelers could be compelled to draft a tackle. Aside from Fautanu and Cook’s five games, the only other tackle on the roster with any NFL starting experience is Jack Driscoll. He joined the Steelers mid-season last fall and was in uniform for a handful of games but never played.
The 29-year-old Driscoll, who has 18 starts among his 67 games played for the Philadelphia Eagles from 2020-24, re-signed with a one-year deal in March.
Khan and McCarthy are scheduled to address local media Monday afternoon for the annual pre-draft news conference.