On Tuesday, insider Ian Rapoport reported that the Pittsburgh Steelers are signing S Jabrill Peppers. Peppers is no stranger to the AFC North. He spent the first two years of his career with the Cleveland Browns after they drafted him 25th overall in the 2017 NFL Draft.
Since then, Peppers has played for the New York Giants and the New England Patriots before landing in Pittsburgh. And head coach Mike Tomlin is excited to have the versatile Peppers in Pittsburgh. But just who is Jabrill Peppers beyond an NFL safety?
Four-Time State Champ In High School
NFL players are the best of the best. So, it makes sense that you’ll find high school champions across the field in any given NFL game. But Jabrill Peppers isn’t just a state champion. He’s a four-time state champion in New Jersey. He spent his freshman and sophomore years at Don Bosco before transferring to Paramus Catholic, and he won state titles each year. That’s pretty special.
Peppers played two ways as well. He was a running back and a cornerback. According to MaxPreps, Peppers carried the ball 373 times in his final three years of high school football for 3,059 yards and 43 touchdowns. That’s an average of 8.2 yards per carry. He also had 57 catches for 842 yards (14.8 yards per catch) and another 17 touchdowns.
On the defensive side of the ball, he had 134 total tackles in his final two seasons with five tackles for a loss and two sacks. He also had seven interceptions and 12 passes knocked down.
Track Star, Too
While Jabrill Peppers was playing cornerback and running back in high school and helping two different schools win state titles, he also found time to excel on the track. And in 2013 at New Jersey’s Meet of Champions, he proved just how much he could excel. He won both the 100- and 200-meter dashes.
A Childhood Of Loss, Both Temporary And Permanent
Peppers grew up in East Orange, NJ, less than half an hour from MetLife Stadium. Despite the proximity to the home of the New York Jets and his former team, the Giants, East Orange was not a good place. In an interview with ESPN during his high school career, Peppers said he certainly saw a lot of bad things happen.
“Oh man, I’ve seen people get stabbed, shot, beat up,” Peppers said. “Saw my boys steal cars then crash into a light pole, other things at night, seeing guys selling the illegal products.”
Unfortunately, East Orange cost Peppers two very dear relationships — time with his father and the life of his brother. Peppers’ father, Terry, was arrested and spent time in prison from the time Peppers was seven until 18. His older brother, Don, stepped in to fill the shoes of the father figure.
Peppers credits Don with helping get him on the right track.
“Don was the guy I looked up to,” Peppers wrote in The Player’s Tribune back in 2015. “And even though he was out in the streets like most of the other guys in our neighborhood, doing things he wasn’t supposed to be doing, he would never let me get involved. He kept me on the right path from a young age. And he was one of the first people who told me I had the potential to be something great — that I needed to chase my football dream.”
Unfortunately, while Don tried to guide Peppers to a future in football, the reality of East Orange and the decisions people made caught up to Don.
“On a cold January day in 2010, the streets caught up with Don, and he paid the price,” Peppers wrote. “He was shot and killed. I was just 14 years old, and for the second time in my life, the most dominant male figure in my life was gone.”
Despite the loss of his older brother and his father not being physically present in his life, Peppers persevered. And part of that was his weekly phone call with his father. Despite the decision by both his mother and father not to let Peppers visit his father, he was able to keep in regular contact. Peppers and his father have worked on building a relationship looking toward the future rather than making up for the past.
Throughout it all, Peppers’ mother was there for him, and she helped support him as best as she could. So when he returned to New Jersey as the Wolverines took on Rutgers, she was there decked out in full Michigan gear with family and friends cheering for Peppers.
The Influence Of Charles Woodson
Even while living in New Jersey, Jabrill Peppers looked up to former Michigan star Charles Woodson. It’s a big part of why Peppers chose Michigan while being born and raised in New Jersey. Peppers himself dismissed the comparisons, according to a Sporting News article.
“You can’t compare me to him,” Peppers said. “My career doesn’t add up to what he’s done and what he’s done for his teams.”
It’s almost impossible to live up to the comparison to Charles Woodson. He was the first defensive player to win the Heisman Trophy for the best player in college football. He was incredibly versatile and helped lead the Wolverines to a national title back in 1997. He’s a College Football Hall of Famer. And of course, he had a Pro Football Hall of Fame career in the NFL with the then-Oakland Raiders and Green Bay Packers.
Despite downplaying comparisons, Peppers still sought out a connection with Woodson.
“I was at the Michigan spring game before my freshman year and I was standing on the sideline next to Charles Woodson thinking, This is surreal … I’m having a conversation with my idol,” Peppers wrote in that Player’s Tribune article. “I was just trying not to talk too much or ask too many questions … I was shocked that he knew who I was and that he knew all my high school accolades. We talked a lot that day and have built a great rapport since. Every now and then, he’ll text me something simple like, ‘Work hard and make plays.’ He wants to keep me motivated and keep my mind focused, and he also wants [to] remind me that he’s always watching.”
Injury Gave Him Perspective
There is no question that Jabrill Peppers is passionate about football. It gave him a way out of a bad place. Football helped him form a relationship with a Hall of Famer. But he’s also experienced the lows of football. He suffered an ACL injury in 2021 with the Giants. And that gave him a renewed perspective on the place football holds in his life.
“As a kid, I was an aggressive kid,” Peppers said in a 2023 interview with the Patriots’ YouTube channel. “When I started playing football, getting patted on the back for hard hits and good blocks and things like that, but it took another step when I tore my ACL. Put a lot of things in perspective for me. And now I’m just other there with a different gratitude, a different appreciation. You never know what play can be your last play.”
The Steelers are getting an aggressive yet thankful Jabrill Peppers. That’s a pretty good combination.
