When the Pittsburgh Steelers acquired inside linebacker Joe Schobert from the Jacksonville Jaguars for just a sixth-round draft choice last summer, News 4 Jax sports anchor Jamal St. Cyr gave us a good breakdown as to why the Jags were willing to part with him for such a low price.

Now that the Steelers have acquired another ex-Jaguars linebacker as a reclamation project, I turned to St. Cyr again for an explanation about what may have gone wrong with Myles Jack at the end of his time in Jacksonville.

Jack was released by the Jags after playing his first six years with the franchise. St. Cyr says Jack ended up dealing with a lot of the same issues that Schobert did while playing there, as he was asked to do a lot of things in Jacksonville’s defense that didn’t fit his skill set.

“He has the athleticism. He can run around. Myles has been miscast at times on that Jaguars defense,” St. Cyr told me during an appearance on 105.9 The X on Thursday. “I am a firm believer that Myles Jack is an outstanding player. But he needs more talent around him than the Jaguars have (had) the last few years.”

St. Cyr said that in 2018 and when the Jaguars made it to the AFC Championship game in 2017 (after beating the Steelers twice), Jack stood out. He totaled 197 tackles, four and a half sacks, two interceptions, a fumble recovery for a touchdown and five pass deflections over those two years.

Jack also had an interception of Ben Roethlisberger in the 2017 AFC playoffs at Heinz Field.

But once that Jacksonville defense quickly disintegrated due to roster turnover, St. Cyr said Jack’s play suffered.

“All he really had to focus on was running sideline-to-sideline and making plays,” St. Cyr recalled. “After (defensive teammates left) the Jaguars defensive coordinators kept wanting to put this leadership role (on him). Make him the Mike linebacker. Give him the green dot (communication helmet). They even did it last year. And Myles Jack does not play well when he has to think, and you put him in charge of other players.”

St. Cyr stressed that he “wasn’t taking a shot” at Jack with that comment, insisting that Jack is a very instinctive and intelligent player. But having the green dot helmet tended to slow him down and dull his instincts.

“He just doesn’t play well with that green dot,” St. Cyr continued. “When he is in charge of lining up other guys, making that play call, his play tanks. As soon as you take that green dot away from him and say go out and do your responsibility, it’s like a light comes on.”

• JuJu Smith-Schuster: 'I had to choose Chiefs Kingdom’ • Gunner Olszewski the Steelers’ latest try at finding consistency, 'splash’ in return game

St. Cyr points at 2020 when he says Schobert had the play-calling duties and Jack had 118 tackles, five pass deflections, a sack, a forced fumble, two fumble recoveries and an interception.

When Schobert left for Pittsburgh, coach Urban Meyer and his staff gave Jack the green dot back and his play slipped. When they took it away again after the first five weeks of the season, his play improved. But Jack still didn’t have a single fumble recovery, forced fumble, pass deflection or interception all season.

So it’ll be very interesting to see if the Steelers avoid giving Jack those responsibilities and just have Devin Bush do it, since theoretically, Bush may have been thinking too much on the field as well last season as he tried to get over his ACL injury of 2020. But in St. Cyr’s words, “If they hand that green dot to Myles Jack someone needs to start asking questions.”

St. Cyr also emphasized that Steelers fans shouldn’t be fooled by Jack’s 108 tackles a year ago. Don’t assume he is an old-fashioned run stuffer.

“That’s not who he is as a player. He is a player that can help in the run game because he can clean it up and make a lot of tackles. But he’s not a downhill thumper,” St. Cyr said. “He’s an off-linebacker. Think of a Lavonte David (Tampa Bay Buccaneers) kind of player. That’ll help in run defense. He’s not a downhill guy getting in the backfield a ton and filling lanes.”

According to Pro Football Focus, Jack had a 37.7 overall grade (40.5 against the run, 67.3 as a tackler, 54 as a pass rusher, and 43.3 in pass coverage) in 2021. Those numbers were the lowest of his career.

All that said, St. Cyr says Jack has a lot of football left in him and thinks that the Steelers will get more out of Jack than they did from Schobert.

That’s not setting the bar high. But any improvement would help.

“Myles has a lot more in the tank. … He is still an uber athletic linebacker who has the ability to affect games and make impacts,” St. Cyr said.

Also in our interview, St. Cyr talks about some other factors that went into Jack’s release, his personality off the field, and his professional hockey team ownership.

Copyright ©2025— Trib Total Media, LLC (TribLIVE.com)