General manager Omar Khan and the Pittsburgh Steelers faced a difficult decision with left tackle Broderick Jones this spring. That decision has arrived.
ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler reported Thursday night the Steelers declined to exercise the fifth-year option in Jones’s contract. The left tackle will become an unrestricted free agent next offseason.
The option would have paid Jones roughly $19.1 million for the 2027 season.
The option would’ve paid $19.1M. Jones, who is coming off neck surgery, is set to be a 2027 free agent. He has 38 career starts and was playing well pre-injury.
Jones had a rocky start to his career, splitting his time in 2023 and 2024 at left and right tackle. During 2025, he became the team’s starting left tackle.
Early last season, the former first-round pick showed improvement. But he suffered a serious neck injury in November and finished the season on injured reserve.
“Broderick Jones’ neck injury complicated the Steelers’ decision,” wrote ESPN’s Brooke Pryor. “Would’ve been much more likely that his fifth-year option would’ve been picked up if he stayed healthy.”
Steelers Decline Fifth-Year Option for LT Broderick Jones
Ultimately, the Jones decision doesn’t come as a major shock. The ex-No. 14 overall pick in the 2023 NFL Draft has yet to become a franchise left tackle. This offseason, he is now recovering from a significant injury.
ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported on April 20 that Jones suffered a setback in his recovery. Khan somewhat refuted that report when he next addressed the media. But Khan hasn’t always spoken confidently about the left tackle’s 2026 availability this offseason.
Jones has started 38 games in his NFL career. The team played him out of position at right tackle during his first two campaigns because Dan Moore Jr. was starting at left tackle.
A lot of fans and pundits blamed that decision on Jones’s poor early development.
At left tackle, Jones looked better before the injury in 2025. Still, it might not have been guaranteed the team exercised his fifth-year option.
Steelers Potentially Drafted Jones Replacement
Khan just finished his fourth NFL Draft as Steelers general manager. In three of those drafts, the team picked an offensive tackle in the first round.
That’s now a problem for Jones. With his option declined, he might not be part of the organization’s future plans.
2024 first-rounder Troy Fautanu started at right tackle last season. If Jones can’t return for the start of the 2025 campaign, Fautanu could flip to left tackle.
That would clear a path for this year’s first-rounder, Max Iheanachor, starting at right tackle.
There’s another option for the Steelers that would include Jones. Pittsburgh could move Fautanu to left guard and keep Jones at left tackle. That would get Iheanachor into the starting lineup at right tackle as well.
The Steelers lost starting left guard Isaac Seumalo to NFL free agency this offseason.
That’s an option if Jones is healthy. Should Jones return healthy and play well, maybe the team could still sign the tackle to a long-term deal.
But Khan also picked Iowa offensive lineman Gennings Dunker in the third round of the 2026 NFL Draft. While Dunker played tackle in college, pundits see him moving inside to guard.
If Iheanachor and Dunker both prove capable, they each could be in the starting lineup this season. At the very least, that is likely the team’s new long-term plan with Jones not signed after 2026.
With Jones, the Steelers have now only exercised one fifth-year option for a first-round pick since 2016. That was T.J. Watt, who Pittsburgh took in the first round during 2017.
2016 – Artie Burns: Declined 2017 – TJ Watt: Exercised 2018 – Terrell Edmunds: Declined 2019 – Devin Bush: Declined 2020 – No pick 2021 – Najee Harris: Declined 2022 – Kenny Pickett:
Steelers Make $19.1 Million Decision on Polarizing Former 1st-Rounder