Love for the Game Driving Myles Jack in Career Resurrection with Steelers

The Pittsburgh Steelers linebacker room is a bit of a mess. Elandon Roberts is the latest starter at the position to be felled by injury. He will miss this Sunday’s must-win game against the Seattle Seahawks.

Roberts is the third of the three co-starters the Steelers had at the position to start the year to be lost to injury, joining Cole Holcomb and Kwon Alexander on the shelf.

The team will turn to Mykal Walker and Blake Martinez, signed off the NFL’s scrap heap mid-season, along with Myles Jack, who the team lured out of retirement, to man the fort going forward.

Jack will go from the couch to the starting lineup in just a month’s time, something that almost never happens in an NFL with 16-man practice squads. How did a player that was pretty solid for the Steelers in 2022 end up without a landing spot, and then back in Pittsburgh?

Tampa Bay Buccaneers running back Leonard Fournette carries the football with Pittsburgh Steelers linebacker Myles Jack (51) defending during the first half of an NFL football game in Pittsburgh, Sunday, Oct. 16, 2022. (AP Photo/Don Wright)

Head coach Mike Tomlin said on Tuesday that he was just waiting for the right opportunity.

“He might have been pushing towards retirement, but probably because of lack of opportunity,” Tomlin said. “It didn’t take him long to ponder the opportunity when we reached out to him, for example. He’s a football lover. And so, I would imagine he was waiting for the call.”

That expanded practice squad also gave the Steelers the opportunity to bring Jack in and let him get back into NFL shape. Tomlin said he was obviously thinking about making a return, based on how quickly he was able to get back to full speed.

“Not really thinking about football, I just don’t think that’s in his DNA,” Tomlin said. “We talked also last week in here specifically regarding Myles Jack and Eric Rowe, how important their presence is for us. We didn’t have them on practice squad as developing players. We had them on the practice squad as capable players, guys that we could cal upon and give us varsity like, work and effort. And their play reflected that.”

Jack was expected to be the third inside linebacker against the Bengals, but ended up wearing the green dot as the communicator and playing nearly every snap of the second half.

This week, the Steelers will lean on Jack’s experience in that role, with the hope that they won’t have to go through another painful transition at play caller.

“Oftentimes, the home venue might be a challenge for a defense under those circumstances because our home venue is a challenge for opposing offenses, and |thought they did a really nice job of communicating,” Tomlin said. “In particular, Myles Jack after Elandon Roberts went down. Really appreciative of his efforts.”

If the Steelers can continue to get even average play out of their linebacker unit, which is now down to Jack, Mykal Walker, Blake Martinez and Mark Robinson, the professionalism in approach of a guy that spent most of his season on the couch will end up being a huge factor.