The Pittsburgh Steelers aren’t done yet. In their most active free agency ever – and I mean ever – the team took another swing on the market by signing LB Myles Jack yesterday. It’s a fair amount of money, $16 million over two years, but Jack will be an immediate starter and athletic fixture in the middle of this defense.
So what does Jack, still just 26, bring to the Steelers? Let’s go through the pros and cons of his game and evaluate it closer below.
#44 Myles Jack – Linebacker – 6’1 244 (listed)
The Good
— Fluid, athletic player who moves well in space and covers ground all over the field
— Impressive man-coverage player who is able to cover the deep middle and match receiver vertically downfield, helps take away tight ends in pass game
— Shows violence in hands when coming downhill with speed
— Able to change directions and recover
— Plays perimeter/outside runs well, scrapes over blocks and has sideline-to-sideline chase and pursuit
— Tackling productivity, 90+ tackles every season he has started at least 14 games
— Spent time off-ball and on the edge, offers some positional versatility and comfortable at all levels of the field
— Overall, been durable and available (played 14+ games in five of six seasons)
— Wore green dot and regarded as smart player, traffic cop in middle of field
The Bad
— Can get beat up in run game by linemen and even tight ends, displaced and moved when he catches and isn’t attacking
— Tends to be slower to process off playaction and misdirection, “takes the cheese” too often and causes him to be late or out of position, needs to improve his eyes to maximize athleticism
— Lacked high-end impact plays in 2021, lots of tackles but not much else
— Low 2021 missed tackle % but still left chances on the table, didn’t always finish in the hole and falls off his tackles too easily
— Able to overwhelm and overpower smaller backs in pass pro but gets stood up by bigger backs when asked to blitz up the middle
— Not a downhill, thumping type of player
— Isn’t a physical, punishing hitter
Let’s start with the good.