One Trade, Two Fragile Tackles, and the Season Hanging Over Aaron Rodgers

The most consequential Steelers decision of the week didn't happen on a practice field. It happened on Aug. 29, when Pittsburgh shipped former first-round offensive tackle Broderick Jones to the Dallas Cowboys for third- and sixth-round picks while sending a fourth-rounder back. Days before the Mike McCarthy era opens against Atlanta, the franchise that beat protection worries off Aaron Rodgers's resume just made its offensive line the story of the season.

The trade makes sense in a vacuum. Jones, the 14th overall pick in 2023, started 38 games over three seasons but never shed the inconsistency that showed up in sack-allowed totals and weekly roller-coaster performances. Moving him clears the books and restocks draft capital for a new regime. But the timing—days before Week 1—speaks to how much conviction this staff had in the young tackle, and how much it's now betting on the next men up.

The problem: there isn't much proven depth behind the starters. The backup jobs belong to lesser-known names like Steven Jones, Dylan Cook, and Max Iheanachor. It's the kind of group that's fine when everyone is healthy and catastrophic when someone isn't. The FanSided headline put it plainly: one bad break from a brutal roster problem.

That's not an idle concern for the player standing behind them. Rodgers threw for 3,468 yards with 24 touchdowns and eight interceptions in 2025, but he also absorbed 35 sacks in 18 games at a 6.2% sack rate. He's the same pre-snap magician who makes offensive linemen look better than they are; he's also a quarterback who's one awkward hit away from a season-ending conversation. The preseason offered little comfort—Pittsburgh gave up 3.3 sacks per game, a number that flashed red before Jones left town.

McCarthy isn't ignoring the reality. The new head coach brought a Super Bowl pedigree and an ancient history with Rodgers from their Green Bay days, and he's spent the offseason installing a system that gets the ball out quickly. The weekly-captain change he's introduced signals a staff unafraid to do things differently. But scheme can only mask so much when the deepest worry is structural.

Here's where the analytical picture gets interesting. Betting markets have Pittsburgh as a 3.5-point home favorite with the total at 41.5 for Sunday, implying a comfortable single-digit win over the Falcons. Their defensive track record—holding opponents to 18.0 points per game in the preseason and ranking among the league's better units last year—explains why the market still respects them. But the same pricing implies an expectation of offensive competence, and the line's thinness undercuts that assumption.

Anonymous NFL executives polled in a September piece placed Pittsburgh square in the AFC's mushy middle. That assessment, stinging as it is for a fan base used to contention, looks prescient through this lens: Pittsburgh can win ugly with defense and a short field, but it's operating with almost no offensive margin.

Rodgers has beaten pressure his whole career. He's also never had this little protection around him. The McCarthy era doesn't need to be perfect in Week 1—but the tackle depth chart is a ticking clock, and it just started running.