Kovacevic: How picking Jones rights a longstanding Tomlin wrong

To my experience in having covered the entirety of Mike Tomlin's tenure, there are, in all likelihood, only two things he hates more than losing:

1. Being wrong.
2. Talking about being wrong.

In the same breath, though, I can state with confidence that, time and again, he'll act upon whatever he might've messed up. Oh, he'll still make every attempt to avoid even casual conversation about it. But that won't stop him from striving for a real solution.

Which leads me, of course, to this:

Meet Broderick Jones, everyone. Offensive tackle. Georgia. First-round pick, 14th overall, in the NFL Draft on this Thursday night.

And yeah, the final piece to complete Tomlin's unapologetic yet unrelenting yearlong transformation of his offensive line, morphing from a decade-plus of stability through Maurkice Pouncey, David DeCastro, Ramon Foster and friends ... to this Renaissance-level masterwork from Minneapolis, circa 2021, in which Kendrick Green perfected the chef's-kiss technique for blocking a ghost while his quarterback's being buried in the backfield ...

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... as one small slice of a winter-long embarrassment. And in Ben Roethlisberger's farewell season, no less. Survival mode from front to finish. If Ben wasn't running for his life, he was releasing his passes in .0000000001 seconds to receivers who’d barely broken off the line.

Fast forward, mercifully, to Chuks Okorafor being joined by four serious additions over the past 14 months -- right to left, and in that same order of acquisition, James Daniels, Mason Cole, Isaac Seumalu and now Jones -- to round out what appears to be a firm five-man anchor for Kenny Pickett, Najee Harris and the still-young offense. 

As an old editor of mine once advised me, don't listen to what they say. Watch what they do. 

This is what they've been doing. This is what Tomlin's been doing, in particular, straddling the threshold from Kevin Colbert's retirement to Omar Khan's hiring. Needs arose at other positions, notably on defense, where he'd previously placed both his passion and priorities. They went mostly untended while a cumulative $66.25 million was committed via free agency to Daniels, Cole and Seumalu, plus another $29.25 million to keep Okorafor.

That's $95.5 million total. That'll buy one a bunch of beef.

And now, even in this draft that's got almost everyone everywhere pleading for help on the defensive line, at inside linebacker, at cornerback, and even on a roster that's already got Dan Moore Jr. fresh off two full seasons as the starting left tackle ... it just kept going.

I asked both Khan and Tomlin after the Jones pick, here at the team's headquarters at the UPMC Rooney Sports Complex, why they'd add Jones and what impact they expect it'll have on the existing line:

"Hey, our job is to bring in competition," Khan would begin. "And I'd say that, by the time we get to the opening game, the best five offensive lineman will play, and we'll see. That’s Coach's area. See how it shakes out."

At which point Tomlin took over and began his own reply, "He's a really talented guy. We were excited about him, really, at every step of the process. We had dinner with him the night before the Pro Day. Had a chance to spend time with him in his environment," meaning at the University of Georgia.

"It was interesting," he continued. "I was in Athens a year ago and took a group of his former teammates out 12 months ago, and I said, 'Give me a name that we're going to be back for in 12 months.' And universally, Broderick's name was the name that we got. That was 12 months ago. That was the first time I really heard his name. And in investigating, I see why they held him in such high regard."

As for the impact it'll have here, he added, in referencing Jones being only 21 years old, "He's a really good player right now. But the upside is tremendous. He's a Diaper Dandy. We're excited about getting him in the fold and teaching him and letting him sort himself out. In terms of the division of labor and who's going to do what, those things will be decided in the team developmental process. But make no mistake: We're excited about having a young man of his talent."

I'll bet he is. More than anyone else in the mix.

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• Much more on the Jones pick, by Corey Crisan.

• A scout's breakdown of Jones, by Matt Williamson.

• The fate of the Steelers at No. 32, by Chris Halicke.

• What I picked up here about Jones, more than anything, was that he comes equipped with exceptional traits, from his frame to all the specifics illustrated above. He does natural things that don't go into slumps and, within that, he can make them look uncommonly easy. The size almost shrinks in relation to his speed, which registered at 4.97 seconds in the 40-yard dash at the NFL's Scouting Combine in Indianapolis two months ago, fastest among all offensive linemen.

What I further picked up is that he lacks polish, which undoubtedly aligns with being two weeks away from his 22nd birthday. He wins on physical power and, when he loses, it'll be on technique. Though it should be added he hasn't lost often, conceding zero -- count 'em, zero -- sacks over 448 pass-protection snaps for Georgia in 2022, per a Pro Football Focus film study.

Nothing to overthink here: The Steelers bought the tools, and they'll leave the carpentry to Pat Meyer.

• Left vs. right. Jones himself sounded noncommittal on the subject, stressing that Georgia's offense utilized a three-man rotation at the two tackle positions, "so all three of us had to be ready to go at either side. Everyone repped every day in practice on both sides and it worked out for the best." 

The Steelers didn't tell Jones in their pre-draft meeting where they'd prefer to use him, to which Jones remarked, "They told me I’m a football player. At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter where they stick me on the line. I’m going to give my best effort. I’m willing to work, continue to push and just help this team wherever I can."

• There was an unmistakable undercurrent sentiment here that Moore's not done as a starter. Kind of surprised me, to be honest, but hey. Seven sacks allowed, 10 penalties, and he's still got supporters in the fold.

• My prediction for this NFL Draft had been that the Steelers would move up to get an offensive tackle and, within that, I named Ohio State's Paris Johnson Jr. But word had emerged earlier in the day from Glendale, Ariz., that Kyler Murray had been lobbying the Cardinals to acquire Johnson to protect his blind side, and that's what Arizona wound up doing in trading up to take him No. 6 overall.

I'd believed the Steelers could have Johnson in the No. 8-10 range, but all of that went poof, obviously.

• Does that mean Jones was their second, or even lower, choice at offensive tackle, given that Tennessee's Darnell Wright went to the Bears at No. 10 and Northwestern's Peter Skoronski went to the Titans at No. 11?

We'll never know. And I mean that. These debates, historically, never deliver answers, even over time.

But here's what's known, if only because both Khan and Tomlin conceded it: They hated seeing that many offensive tackles -- four in the first 11 slots -- stripped off the board.

As Tomlin put it regarding Jones, "He got within range. There'd been a run at his position. There were some teams in front us that might've had an interest in the position. It was a player we coveted, and so we did what we needed to do to secure the player that we identified."

• The team at 15th was the Jets. And anyone wondering whether or not the Jets coveted Jones needed only to see their staff take unusually long to submit their subsequent pick, Iowa State edge rusher Will McDonald IV. That's always fun.

• What's next?

Well, at No. 32 overall, the Steelers would open Round 2, shortly after 7 p.m. ... unless they don't.

I don't know, my feel for quite some time, and especially after Khan and Tomlin came across this past Monday as if they were begging for a buyer for the pick, was that it was good as gone. But seeing how not one but two strong defensive backs -- Penn State corner Joey Porter Jr. and Alabama safety Brian Branch -- fell through the first round ... wow, I don't know how that gets bypassed.

It's OK to at least glance at the defense now, one would think.

• Young Peezy's got at least one big-time backer:

• Thanks for reading this all-draft Insider. I'll be back at the facility Saturday for more.