Pittsburgh Steelers should cut ties with LB Myles Jack this offseason

The Pittsburgh Steelers were counting on Myles Jack to be a huge addition to their team in 2022, but here’s why the organization should cut the veteran linebacker in 2023.

Last offseason, the Jacksonville Jaguars cut linebacker Myles Jack for financial reasons. Jack was a former second-round draft choice from 2016 and was a well-known player around the league. His release had Steelers fans lobbying for Pittsburgh to sign the veteran linebacker.

It didn’t take long before Kevin Colbert pulled the trigger as the two sides put ink to paper on a new two-year, $16 million deal. Now just one season later, I believe it’s in the best interest of the team to cut Jack early in the 2023 offseason.

Though Jack offered some stability at the linebacker position, he wasn’t as good as many fans anticipated. This shouldn’t have been a shocker, as the veteran linebacker really struggled for Jacksonville in 2021 prior to his release last offseason.

For Pittsburgh, Jack had some strong games, but the overall sample of play was rather underwhelming. In 15 games, Jack racked up 104 total tackles, but his splash plays were few and far between. The seven-year veteran didn’t record a single interception, forced fumble, fumble recovery or sack while chipping in just 3 passes defended all season, per ESPN stats.

His lack of playmaking ability and consistency in the passing game resulted in him earning a 53.6 overall grade from Pro Football Focus for the 2022. This was good for 65th among 81 qualifying linebackers and lower than the grade that fellow linebacker Devin Bush earned (58.8).

Additionally, Jack wasn’t even a full-time linebacker for the Steelers last year, as he was on the field for just 71 percent of defensive snaps in 2022. It was truly a three-way split, as Bush earned 62 percent of snaps and Robert Spillane played 59 percent of the defensive snaps for Pittsburgh.

Oftentimes, Teryl Austin would take Jack off the field on passing downs in favor of Spillane — who played the most coverage snaps on the team among linebackers this past season.

Steelers must cut Myles Jack for financial reasons

Unspectacular play by itself isn’t reason enough to cut a starting linebacker. However, when you combine this with the fact that he has a bad contract, there’s no question this is a move that needs to be made.

Because of the way his deal was structured, the Steelers took on a small cap hit for the 2022 season, but Jack is set to cost $11.25 million against the cap for the 2023 season, according to Over the Cap. This is an obnoxiously large number for an off-ball linebacker who didn’t have a very good season.

Cutting Jack would save Pittsburgh a whopping $8 million in 2023. With the money saved, the Steelers could put it toward signing a younger, fresher linebacker who is coming off a better 2022 season. The team could also use the cap savings to help retain an essential piece like Cameron Sutton or maybe even put it towards new contracts for Terrell Edmunds and Larry Ogunjobi.

What Pittsburgh can’t afford to do is spread Jack’s cap hit out in a voidable-year deal that would have the Steelers taking dead money hits into the future. Jack certainly isn’t a good enough player for the team to make this type of sacrifice down the line. Even at displacement cost, the Steelers should be able to find a better linebacker in free agency.

I know that cutting Myles Jack doesn’t seem ideal considering that Devein Bush is going to walk away this offseason and they have no quality linebackers, but they structured his deal to get out of his contract if things didn’t go great, and they didn’t. The Pittsburgh Steelers desperately need that cap savings and Jack isn’t worth sticking around at that price.