The Pittsburgh Steelers had little choice but to populate their defense with JAGs by the end of the 2023 season due to injuries; ILB Myles Jack, among others, served just to fill up the middle. Pittsburgh signed him to a two-year, $16 million deal as recently as 2022. However, Ray Fittipaldo of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette cautions against expecting another reunion.
“I doubt it,” he told a reader in his latest chat session when asked if he thought Jack might return. “He was on the street for a reason. He has bad knees, and teams don’t want to commit to him for a year. They can pay him less if they sign him at midseason. It’s a much better risk than signing him before the season”.
The team released Myles Jack at the outset of the offseason a year ago in a cap-saving move. He had a base salary of $8 million due to him had they not cut ties. By August, he ultimately decided to retire, but could not pass up the opportunity to return when Pittsburgh called.
Jack played 131 snaps for the defense over the final three games as injuries mounted. He recorded 17 total tackles, including one for loss, with a sack and two quarterback hits. He added four more tackles in the Steelers’ playoff loss to the Buffalo Bills.
While Fittipaldo doesn’t think the Steelers will bring him back, head coach Mike Tomlin struck a different note. In a pithy response during his end-of-season press conference, he said he would “certainly” be open to bringing him back.
Technically speaking, Jack is a free agent and is not under contract. The Steelers never signed him to the 53-man roster in spite of the fact that he played in four games. They signed him to the practice squad and elevated him for each week.
In point of favor to Fittipaldo, the fact that no other team tried to sign him during that time or since may be indicative of his market. He spent the time from March 16 to Aug. 6 as a street free agent before signing with the Philadelphia Eagles. He retired two weeks later.
Yet everybody seemed to love playing with him. OLB Alex Highsmith started next to him throughout the 2022 season. “I was super excited”, he said, when he heard the news that the Steelers were bringing Myles Jack back in November.
Yet he spent a month on the practice squad, getting himself back into football shape before he ever saw the field. He signed on Nov. 20 and played on Dec. 23. Then he played more than three-quarters of the defensive snaps.
The Steelers will have to decide what to do with the injured Cole Holcomb and Kwon Alexander. The latter is due to become a free agent. They return Elandon Roberts and Mark Robinson at the position. Mykal Walker and Blake Martinez also played for them following the injuries and could return in some capacity.
