FRISCO, Texas — Dallas Cowboys offensive coordinator Klayton Adams said Thursday that tackle Broderick Jones seems grateful for a fresh start, 12 days after Dallas acquired him from the Pittsburgh Steelers.
The Cowboys open the season Sunday against the New York Giants at MetLife Stadium. Kickoff is 7:20 p.m. CT on NBC.
A fresh start was one of the things the staff hoped Jones would embrace when he arrived, Adams said.
“Very good-hearted guy,” Adams said. “I think he loves football. I think he seems to be kind of grateful for a fresh start, and those were the things that we were hoping that he would embrace coming in here.”
Broderick Jones Trade With The Pittsburgh Steelers
Dallas acquired Jones and a 2027 fourth-round pick from Pittsburgh on Aug. 29 for its 2027 third- and sixth-round picks. The trade came the day before NFL teams had to cut their rosters to 53.
The Steelers took Jones 14th overall out of Georgia in 2023. He started 38 of the 45 games he played in three seasons in Pittsburgh. Last season, he played all 603 of his snaps at left tackle after playing mostly on the right side in his first two years. A neck injury in Week 12 ended his season.
Pittsburgh declined his fifth-year option this offseason and drafted a tackle in the first round in April.
Broderick Jones Competes With Terence Steele At Right Tackle
At his Aug. 31 news conference, Cowboys coach Brian Schottenheimer said Jones would compete with Terence Steele for the starting right tackle job and would not take snaps on the left side, where Tyler Guyton is the starter. Schottenheimer said he called Steele to tell him about the competition after the trade was finalized.
Jones said Sept. 1 that he was at 85 to 90% of full health.
The Cowboys are honest with their players that everything in the building is about competition, and that is not exclusive to the tackles, Adams said.
“I think the way that really anybody does, because we’re really honest with those guys about the fact that everything here is really about competition,” Adams explained. “So it’s not just exclusive to the tackles. And then I think when you live in that world and you’re being told constantly that the best guys are going to play, I think it brings out the best in everybody.”
Steele is in his seventh season with Dallas. He signed as an undrafted free agent out of Texas Tech in 2020. Guyton was the 29th overall pick in 2024 and started all 10 games he played last season before an ankle injury sent him to injured reserve Dec. 24.
Players who walk into a new system translate what they hear into the terms they already know, Adams said.
“I think just owning our system and speaking our language and being confident,” Adams said. “I think when you first walk into a system, I think the first thing you do as a professional football player is you go, oh, they call this, they call this. And so you’re kind of translating through another system. I think we got to get him up to speed to the point where he owns it and he knows it and he’s able to play confidently. It’s hard to play confidently if you’re having to translate.”
Jones played with receiver George Pickens at Georgia and again with the Steelers. Pickens was the first person Jones texted after the trade. Former Cowboys coach Mike McCarthy is in his first season coaching Pittsburgh.
T.J. Bass starts at left guard Sunday for Tyler Smith, who had thumb surgery and is on injured reserve.
