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Rookies like Pittsburgh Steelers offensive tackle Broderick Jones often struggle with the rigor of professional football in their first NFL season. However, Jones isn’t that worried as he claims that Georgia football practices were tougher than Steelers practices, which Steelers coach Mike Tomlin can't be thrilled to hear.
Reporters caught up with the No. 14 overall pick in the 2023 NFL Draft as the preseason concluded and asked Jones if he is ready for the grind of a full 17-game NFL season.
“I really don’t know just yet because I really won’t know until the real season starts,” Jones told reporters. “Week after week it’s just long. But I went through that at Georgia. It’s really not as bad as people think it is. The practices aren’t as bad as college. That’s the plus of coming to the league from college. But it’s longer hours. You have more studying, more film, you want to take care of your body more. It’s a lot of different things you want to improve on that you think don’t matter that really impact.”
While Mike Tomlin might not like Jones’ description of practice being easier with the six-time Super Bowl champs than the back-to-back national champions, what Jones said about college vs. the pros rings true.
In college, the Georgia football coaches only have so much time with the players due to NCAA rules, so they maximized those with long, tough practices. In the NFL, playing football is your job, and rosters are more limited than in college, so staying healthy and preparing for the mental side of the game is much more important.
Still, we’ll see what Broderick Jones has to say in Week 15 and beyond when he’s played more games than in a college football season.
