With Elandon Roberts dealing with a pectoral injury, the Pittsburgh Steelers added another veteran inside linebacker in Jaylon Smith earlier this week. Smith was a Pro Bowler in 2019 and has been a consistent contributor in the league after an impressive college career at Notre Dame. Defensive coordinator Teryl Austin said Smith has been picking things up well but that the Steelers want to see how he stacks up on the field against the rest of their veteran linebackers.
“You know, we’ll see. Like we brought the other veterans in, I think the biggest thing is trying to get him up to speed as fast as possible. I don’t know much about how he is in the classroom and that kind of thing. I bet he’s pretty good. You don’t become an All-Pro and play some good football in this league for a lot of years not knowing what to do. I think it’s going to be a matter of time and he seems to be picking up things, the little bit we’ve given him in a day, he’s picked that up okay. You know how it is, you get to a matter of game planning and the amount of stuff that you have in and the details of it, that’s where we have to see where he stacks up,” Austin said via transcript provided by the team.
Smith previously played for the Las Vegas Raiders this season, seeing 25 snaps in the Raiders’ Week Nine matchup against the New York Giants. He had two solo tackles in that game, and last season he had 88 total tackles with the New York Giants in 11 starts. He’s had an injury history that began when he tore multiple ligaments in his knee during his final game at Notre Dame, but when he’s healthy, he’s been a solid player.
The Steelers signed multiple veteran linebackers, including Mykal Walker and Myles Jack this season to try and help after they were decimated by injuries. LBs Cole Holcomb and Kwon Alexander went down with season-ending injuries in Weeks 9 and 10, respectively, and the Steelers have been playing with a skeleton crew at linebacker since. Roberts has stepped up in a big way, but with him dealing with a pec injury, the Steelers are down to Jack, Walker, Blake Martinez, Mark Robinson and Smith, who was signed to the practice squad, as healthy options.
It’s going to be interesting to see how Pittsburgh handles Smith and if he gets any playing time or is elevated to the 53-man roster in Pittsburgh’s final two games. He said he would be ready to play as early as Sunday. If he does play at all this year, it’ll be because Pittsburgh’s coaching staff feels like he can make an impact more than some of the Steelers’ other options.
