I feel like several people aren’t sold on the Broderick Jones trade, and it’s understandable, but I think he has traits to build on.
The Pittsburgh Steelers were ready to move on, Broderick Jones is coming off spinal-fusion surgery, and his preseason wasn’t anywhere near great. However, Dallas still saw enough to make the move, sending Pittsburgh a 2027 third-round and sixth-round pick while getting Jones and a fourth back.
Then the Cowboys turned around and traded Nate Thomas to the Houston Texans for a 2027 seventh-round pick.
Why do I bring this up? Because Dallas didn’t just add another tackle to a crowded room. The Broderick Jones trade immediately changed the room.
The more I dug into Broderick Jones, the more I understand why this trade was made.
Broderick Jones and Tyler Guyton are Close Skill Wise at Left Tackle
Broderick Jones played all 632 of his snaps at left tackle in 2025 and Tyler Guyton was the starter at left tackle for the Cowboys, so this gives us a pretty clean comparison of these two.
Jones finished with a 57.7 overall PFF grade and a 59.0 pass-blocking grade. While Guyton came in at 57.5 overall and 50.0 in pass protection.
This makes it sound like Jones might be a slight upgrade… Until you see the pressure numbers.
Broderick Jones allowed 23 pressures on 380 pass-blocking snaps and Guyton allowed 31 on 418. Breaking it down further, that comes out to Jones having about a 6.1% pressure rate and Guyton was a 7.4%.
Still sounds good, right? This is what happened when Broderick Jones lost the pressure battle. He gave up six sacks and Tyler Guyton gave up two.
Looking at the numbers, this has been an issue for Jones in his short career. He doesn’t necessarily get beaten at some crazy rate, but when it goes bad, it has a habit of going really bad.
Terence Steele Has the Better Case at Right Tackle
I then thought, maybe Broderick Jones would be a better right tackle. After seeing the numbers, I don’t think I’m ready to push him in front of Steele.
Jones played a full season at right tackle in 2024 and allowed 43 pressures on 593 pass-blocking snaps. About a 7.3% pressure rate.
Terence Steele, on the other hand, allowed 41 pressures on 746 pass-blocking snaps that same year, around 5.5%, and Steele is still the better run blocker.
At left tackle, I can make a pretty good argument that Broderick Jones belongs in the same conversation as Tyler Guyton. At right tackle, as much as it pains me to say, Terence Steele has the better resume.
If Dallas wants Jones to compete at right tackle, they will be betting on what he can become instead of what he has already shown.
Broderick Jones’ Weakness Isn’t Athleticism
This is the part that made sense to me as to why the Cowboys traded for Broderick Jones.
Jones is 6’5”, about 310 pounds, has almost 35-inch arms and ran a 4.97 forty. That’s moving for a guy his size. Being an athlete hasn’t been the issue, his problems are technique.
If you watch his tape, you will see he gets enough depth in his pass set, then his hands come in too late or too wide. He’ll overset outside and leave himself open to an inside counter. Other times, he gets himself into good position and still loses because his punch or balance is off.
If you look back at this Georgia tape you will see some of those problems have been with him since his SEC days. I don’t know if it will be an easy fix, if he is set in his ways.
The Silver Lining of Broderick Jones Coming to Dallas
The Dallas Cowboys have two offensive line gurus in Klayton Adams and Conor Riley.
Adams, in particular, has already worked with another young, athletic first-round tackle from the 2023 draft.
Paris Johnson Jr. played right tackle as a rookie in Arizona before being moved to left tackle. His PFF grade jumped from 60.1 in his first year to 80.8 in year 2. I don’t know if Broderick Jones can make that kind of jump, but we have the coaches to help.
Klayton Adams has been a part of developing a young tackle through a position change and into a better player. That’s the hope I have for Broderick Jones in Dallas, not just a change of scenery, but a change in coaching too.
Tyler Guyton and Terence Steele Prove Coaching Only Goes So Far
The counterargument to the last section would be that there is enough evidence to keep me from getting carried away with the Riley and Adams angle.
Guyton improved in several areas. We watched his run blocking get better, his penalties dropped, and his sacks allowed went down, but his pass protection still wasn’t good enough.
Terence Steele wasn’t an elite pass protector either or elite at anything to be totally clear.
So that goes to show you Dallas hasn’t fixed every offensive tackle that has come through the doors at the Star. What the Cowboys have is a staff focused on the little technical problems that have been getting Broderick Jones in trouble for years.
Maybe that gives him a better shot than he had in Pittsburgh. Maybe it doesn’t. We’ll see.
Dallas is Betting on the Broderick Jones Pittsburgh Never Saw
We all should know by now that the Cowboys didn’t trade for a finished starting tackle.
They traded for a 25-year-old former first-round pick with elite traits, experience on both sides, and some really bad technical habits that the Steelers never cleaned up.
At left tackle, Jones was closer to Tyler Guyton than I expected, and at right tackle further behind Terence Steele than expected. Now that Nate Thomas is gone, it tells me one thing.
Dallas didn’t make this move just to have another body for the tackle room. Broderick Jones is going to have a role, and Riley and Adams are getting a chance to work on the exact things that were holding him back from becoming the player Pittsburgh thought it drafted.
If the Cowboys coaches can clean those things up, Dallas will have something in Broderick Jones. If they can’t, Pittsburgh probably knew it was time to move on and found a desperate team to take him.
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