Mike Tomlin's latest move with former Steelers first-round pick is a tease

The Pittsburgh Steelers look to be building quite the obvious M.O. with their offense right now. They're bulking up their offensive line and run game. They're going to bleed the clock, play defense, win the turnover battle and run the football.

As pieces of this offensive line, the Steelers have used their first-round picks in the 2023 and 2024 NFL Drafts to select two franchise offensive tackles, Broderick Jones in 2023 and Troy Fautanu in 2024. Jones currently starts at right tackle, a switch from his natural position of left tackle, while Fautanu is the top tackle backup on the team.

Broderick Jones has experienced some growing pains since the Steelers moved him from left tackle to right tackle. The switch is much harder than fans realize. Everything is flipped for the lineman. While blocking is still blocking, there are night and day differences between the two spots.

Steelers 2023 first round pick Broderick Jones gets reps at LT in practice

But Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin loves some versatility in his players. That's why it should come as no surprise that Jones was recently seen taking reps at practice as a left tackle. Don't believe me? See for yourself below.

And before you jump to conclusions and begin screaming how this is a right tackle rep, let me explain how it's a left tackle rep.

First, note the feet pre-snap. He's aligned like a left tackle. Second, it's simulating an outside zone to the right side, where Jones, the left tackle, is the backside tackle following the play up the field with his block.

It's a bit complicated to understand and hard to fully imagine the play without the other 20 players on the field.

But what does this mean for Jones? Is he headed back to his natural position, where he would be even more valuable and provide improved play? Should Steelers fan rejoice?

Not so fast.

As noted before, Steelers coach Mike Tomlin loves himself some versatility. It's not uncommon to see Tomlin's players practicing out of position in order to have themselves prepared in case of emergency. I mean, we saw Steelers place kicker Chris Boswell execute a perfect punt after the team's punter went down in Week 1.

So no, I wouldn't expect to see Jones move back to left tackle anytime soon. This is likely just a rep where Tomlin and the coaching staff are continuing to work on the young lineman's versatility. I'd expect to see Jones at right tackle and Dan Moore Jr. at left tackle until Fautanu is ready and beats more out.

Side note, Moore was excellent in Week 1, so we will see if or when Fautanu gets his shot this year.