Steelers Twitter exploded last week when they heard the Jaguars made Myles Jack a cap casualty. When they heard the Steelers signed Jack to a two-year contract, the Discord absolutely burned to the ground.
I’ll admit I don’t watch many Jaguars games, but my strongest memory of the guy was how he ran his mouth about the Steelers not respecting them after they knocked us out of the playoffs. He seemed like a gamer, and he played well against us.
The story on him I hear from bloggers and Internet experts is he’s the coverage guy we’ve been searching for since Shazier went down. Awesome, right? You need that guy to slow down the Kelce’s and Andrews’ of the world.
But then I went to Pro Football Focus and grew concerned:
I know, I know, you don’t respect PFF grades. Of course I didn’t stop there, I kept digging. I figured “this guy is essentially Joe Schobert’s replacement, I’ll compare them.” I chose to focus on the coverage stats, because that’s supposedly Jack’s bread-and-butter. Here’s what it looks like:
I’m aware of the dangers of box score scouting, but this is pretty unanimous. The Passer Rating Against is particularly damning, as is 0 Passes Defensed for Jack. Really, you’re a coverage ace and you didn’t get your hand on one ball?
Some people suggested on Twitter that Jack’s play last year was an aberration brought on by playing for one of the most trainwrecky teams in NFL history (Urban Meyer’s scandal).
These professional athletes all have the newest Studio Beats by Dre, they should be able to block out that noise. Even so, the “exception, not the rule” argument doesn’t hold water. Jack posted a worse Passer Rating Against in 2017 and 2019. He had a higher Reception Allowed % in 2017 and 2020. His Missed Tackle % was higher in 2018 and 2019. At this point, it’s more the rule than the exception.
If you’re one of those “I don’t trust PFF” people, first of all congrats on being so interesting. If you think I didn’t check my sources, you don’t know me at all:
Pro Football Reference apparently uses a different algorithm for calculating yards allowed, but outside of that it’s still pretty unanimous. Both these players were drafted in 2016, and Joe Schobert has exactly twice as many career Pass Break-ups as Jack.
I’m not sure if we’re too high on Jack, or too low on Schobert. Both are probably true. I wouldn’t be surprised if the Steelers weren’t done at ILB, and there’s a decent chance they spend a high draft pick there. Names that come to mind are Nakobe Dean, Leo Chenal, Brandon Smith and Jack Sanborn.
If that were to happen, Devin Bush’s chair would suddenly feel much warmer.
Steely Cam 