Myles Jack was retired by the time the regular season began. Yet here he is starting for the Pittsburgh Steelers, which wouldn’t have been surprising at all a year ago—since that is what he was doing at the time. But once he was released as a salary cap casualty, it was reasonable to assume his time in Pittsburgh was over.
And it would have been without a series of unfortunate events. The Steelers lost two starting linebackers to injury and Elandon Roberts has been battling through injuries of his own in the second half of the season. He is not expected to play Sunday in Seattle.
If he can’t, then Jack, currently still on the practice squad, would likely wear the green dot. Defensive coordinator Teryl Austin confirmed that Jack wore it last week. After all, he was the last man standing who had done it before for their defense. And his teammates were happy to have him in the mix again.
“I just remember when I heard the news that we were gonna sign him back, I was super excited”, OLB Alex Highsmith told reporters yesterday, via the team’s website. They were only teammates for a year, but they played alongside one another.
“He’s a guy that knows the system. He brings a lot of juice, and we saw that this last game against the Bengals”, Highsmith added after Jack got his first snaps of the season. “He’s gonna continue to get better. He’s someone who loves the game of football”.
A former second-round draft pick, Jack spent six years with the Jacksonville Jaguars before signing with the Steelers in 2022 on a two-year, $16 million contract. He started out well enough, but injuries took their toll as the season progressed. Few were surprised when the Steelers released him rather than paying him another $8 million this year.
Pittsburgh also let Robert Spillane and Devin Bush go in free agency, adding Holcomb, Roberts, and Alexander as free agents. Due to injuries, they have been forced to continue to scour the market, Jack being a part of that, along with Mykal Walker, Blake Martinez, and now Jaylon Smith.
That would have been a formidable inside linebacker room all on their own a few years ago, but of course there is a reason they were all available to be signed to a 53-man roster in the middle of the season, even if some were on practice squads.
In his first game back with the Steelers, Jack recorded six tackles and a sack in 47 snaps played. He also had a shot at an interception off a deflection that he couldn’t quite haul in, though it would have been a tough play even for a defensive back.
He admitted after Saturday’s game that he is still getting into football shape, but the only way to do that at this point is to play football. Nearly 50 snaps last week was a good first run, but the Steelers will need even more out of him this week.
