Georgia left tackle Broderick Jones was Steelers general manager Omar Khan\u2019s first draft pick in the role \u2014 the intended cornerstone of the team\u2019s offensive line rebuild.<\/p>\n
However, despite three seasons with 10-plus starts to begin his career, Jones\u2019 NFL future remains murky. His struggles certainly haven\u2019t just been his fault, but it remains to be seen if the Steelers would be wise to invest in him as a starter after his rookie contract.<\/p>\n
While Jones is entering his fourth season as a Steeler in 2026, Pittsburgh has an important decision to make by May 1: whether or not to exercise his fifth-year option for 2027.<\/p>\n
To clarify, the contract won\u2019t affect Jones\u2019 2026, but it will determine whether he plays an extra year in Pittsburgh (at an estimated $20,497,000 per Over the Cap<\/a>) in 2027, or hits the open market a year early (where he could still return to Pittsburgh on a new contract).<\/p>\n Should the Steelers exercise Broderick Jones\u2019 fifth-year option?<\/p>\n First off, it\u2019s worth contextualizing the $20 million range Jones is expected to earn if the option is exercised. Using Spotrac\u2019s numbers<\/a>, that would place him around 18th at his position right now in terms of average per year. By 2027, the market will have risen even more as the cap continues to skyrocket upwards<\/a>, lowering Jones\u2019 rank even more.<\/p>\n Interestingly, Jones\u2019 fifth-year option would fall just under current Titans left tackle Dan Moore\u2019s $20.5 million per year average. Moore was the Steelers\u2019 left tackle before Jones, and he faced equal \u2014 if not worse \u2014 criticism for his play during his time in Pittsburgh. That\u2019s not to say Moore was secretly great, but that is the market for starting-caliber offensive tackles in today\u2019s NFL.<\/p>\n So maybe the option isn\u2019t as expensive as it looks. But the question still remains \u2014 do the Steelers want to play and play Jones as a long-term starter?<\/p>\n As mentioned earlier, the Steelers haven\u2019t put Jones in the greatest position to succeed. While he\u2019s had the same offensive line coach his entire NFL career up until this offseason, he\u2019s had to move from right to left tackle (and has been left in limbo at times) in recent seasons.<\/p>\n His play in 2025 showed more promise. Although Aaron Rodgers\u2019 blazing-fast time to throw inflated the offense\u2019s overall pressure numbers, Jones was solid in pass protection and part of a largely successful unit. However, his technique \u2014 especially in the run game \u2014 continued to be up and down, resulting in a large percentage of the offensive line\u2019s lowlights in 2025.<\/p>\n Further complicating things was a late-season neck injury of unknown severity that prematurely ended his year. Then, unheralded backup Dylan Cook stepped in at left tackle and delivered performances that weren\u2019t necessarily flashy, but compared well to Jones. Cook had major struggles against the Texans\u2019 all-world front in the playoffs, but before then, at times he looked even better than the former first-rounder.<\/p>\n Jones has certainly looked like a starter at times. And his upside remains incredibly high. But entering his fourth NFL season, he\u2019s still far more of a developmental prospect than a sure thing.<\/p>\n Especially with Cook in the fold and an offensive line that has young pieces worth locking up elsewhere, I don\u2019t see a reason for the Steelers to commit to Jones\u2019 fifth-year option. It\u2019s better to risk the best-case scenario of a 2026 breakout and contract dispute than paying $20 million for a player who might be replaceable in 2027. You could even make the argument (I would) that Jones and Cook should be in a camp battle this offseason.<\/p>\n As with all fifth-year option decisions, it\u2019s worth pointing out a declined option certainly doesn\u2019t end a player\u2019s chances of sticking around long-term with the team that drafted them. However, it would raise the stakes for what is already shaping up to be a massively-important 2026 for Jones.<\/p>\n What are your thoughts on Broderick Jones\u2019 fifth-year option? Should the Steelers exercise it before the deadline? Join the BTSC community and let us know in the comments. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Georgia left tackle Broderick Jones was Steelers general manager Omar Khan\u2019s first draft pick in the role \u2014…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":109973,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[73,75,74,4852,27332],"class_list":["post-109972","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-pittsburgh","tag-pittsburgh","tag-pittsburgh-headlines","tag-pittsburgh-news","tag-pittsburgh-steelers-commentary","tag-pittsburgh-steelers-discussion"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/109972","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=109972"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/109972\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/109973"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=109972"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=109972"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=109972"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}