What did the Steelers see in Jarvis Jones?

Last year, his first in the NFL, rookie linebacker Jarvis Jones accomplished little and showed less.

It makes you wonder what the Steelers saw in him. They didn't meet with him at the NFL Combine, and when his Pro Day came up at the University of Georgia, he ran an abysmal 4.92 40-yard dash. Still, the Steelers made him their No. 1 draft pick (No. 17 overall).

Jarvis Jones, No. 95

Last year, Jones showed basically one pass-rush move. He couldn't bull-rush many blockers. He didn't hold the edge consistently on run plays, and he had trouble shedding blocks. He struggles with outside contain. He's not especially strong. And he's slow.

Seriously, what did the Steelers see in this guy? Last year, Jarvis Jones showed so little he might as well have been Landry Jones.

Let's hope he's better this year. To be fair, the Steelers' defense is notoriously difficult for rookies to learn. He says the game has slowed for him now that has a full NFL season under his belt, and we hope so. Steeler Nation is counting on him, although today's depth chart lists nondescript veteran backup Chris Carter as the starter at left outside linebacker, with Jones as the backup to Jason Worilds on the right side.

Most people expect Jones will be handed a starting job, much like Mike Adams was handed the starting left tackle job last summer.  A first-rounder should be making an impact by the time his second year starts. Let's hope Jones justifies the investment the Steelers have made in him.

We hope he succeeds, but if he falls flat this year, well, it makes you wonder what the Steelers were thinking when they drafted him instead of a couple of other players still on the board.

Eric Reid, rookie Pro Bowler, drafted No. 18 overall
in 2013, one pick after Jarvis Jones

LSU safety Eric Reid went to San Francisco with the very next pick (No. 17 overall), and Reid made the Pro Bowl his rookie season. Reid had 77 tackles, 11 breakups, four interceptions and two fumble recoveries. Jones was in on 40 tackles and one sack.

Two picks after Reid, the Bears selected guard Kyle Long, and he went to the Pro Bowl. Tight end Tyler Eiffert was on the board, too, and he went to Cincinnati with pick No. 21.

Considering Reid went to the Pro Bowl, however, and was selected immediately after Jones ... well, if Jarvis Jones doesn't pick up his game early this season, Steeler Nation may be clamoring for Howard Jones at linebacker instead of Jarvis Jones.

NFL teams cannot miss on No. 1 draft choices. It's too soon to put the "bust" label on Jones, but the pressure will be on him this year.

It may be early, but it's later than you might think.

The Chaos Defense & Joey Porter's Pit Bulls

No. 8, by Jackson Pollock

In recent years, we've heard occasional but too frequent comments from opposing players summarily dismissing the Steelers' defense by saying things like, "It's really no problem. They've played the same defensive scheme for years." ...or, "We run the same defense, so we're used to seeing it in practice."

Approximately half the teams in the NFL now play some variation of the 3-4 defense, so offensive coordinators and quarterbacks across the NFL are used to seeing it. Steelers' defensive coordinator Dick LeBeau has usually been able to apply his own special sauce to the scheme, but there's only so much you can do, to a point.

That point has come long past due. The game has changed. It's become faster, more up-tempo, and it involves more involvement of tall, fast tight ends like Jimmy Graham, Rob Gronkowski, Vernon Davis, and Tyler Eiffert. The emphasis is on speed and movement. Mobile quarterbacks and multiple receivers open up the game laterally, while vertical seam and go routes are more lethal than ever with the big tight ends and tall, fast receivers such as Calvin Johnson, Larry Fitzgerald, Alshon Jefferey, Torrey Smith, Denaryius Thomas, et al.

That's why, last year, the Steelers increasingly had Troy Polamalu playing in the spot formerly occupied by heavier inside linebackers like Vince Williams, Larry Foote and James Farrior. Polamalu's role was to run down lateral plays close to the line of scrimmage and also drop into full-speed deep coverage with the big tight ends and receivers running vertical routes. Let's be honest, though: Polamalu was a mis-fit at linebacker.

Enter Ryan Shazier.

The Chaos Defense
We haven't even had mini-camp yet, but Joey Porter's Pit Bulls are confident asserting that Shazier will start, and so will rookie defensive end Stephon Tuitt. If they don't, something drastically wrong will have happened. Add new safety Mike Mitchell to the equation, along with additional playing time from newer players such as Shamarko Thomas, and the Steelers will have more speed and (hopefully) more disruptive impact at all three levels of the defense.

It's become less about whether a team is playing a 4-3 or 3-4 scheme, and more about disruption. It's all about covering the over/under (back end and front seven) areas of the field. That's why the Steelers, along with so many other NFL teams, run so many "sub-package" schemes, with six defensive backs, one of whom is always in a traditional second-level (linebacker) role.

The trouble with the Steelers' ability to run sub-package schemes was they didn't have the personnel to do it. They wanted Sean Spence to begin filling that role, but he got hurt in pres-season two years ago. We saw a bit of that late last year with Terrance Garvin, the undrafted rookie from West Virginia. Garvin played fairly well, but all too often we found ourselves screaming at the TV, "Where are the linebackers?"

Orange, by Zivi Aviraz

Cross-pattern, vertical/lateral coverage
Now, we will see a lot more of it with Shazier. If he is what they hope he will be, Shazier will be able to drop into deep zone coverage, and his presence should enable Troy to return to his usual freelance role on the back end.

Mitchell, who is much faster than Ryan Clark was last year,  should be able to help the corners on deep routes, move vertically with the big tight ends and tall wide receivers, and also move up to the line of scrimmage for run support and occasional blitzes.

Hopefully, the addition of Tuitt, Cam Thomas and Daniel McCullers to the defensive line rotation will enable more of a push from the front three on running and passing plays alike. A fourth, fifth or sixth pass rusher could come from any spot in the defense. The ability of players to run vertically and laterally is going to be key to this defense -- as long as they can cover and actually, you know, tackle.

As much as we liked Ryan Clark, he just couldn't run anymore, and that really hurt the defense last year.

Bucky Brooks of the NFL Network offers a nice article explaining how the revamped defense might work this year with the new personnel, and his analysis is sound, reasoned and explained clearly. You can read it here in a piece titled, "Steelers' revamped defense equipped to wreak havoc."

Brooks's article contains a subhead, "The linebackers' collective speed and athleticism will create chaos," and that contains the nugget of what this new defense should be all about.

If it works, we'll call it The Chaos Defense.

And if the newly revitalized linebacking corps plays to the standard of new defensive assistant Joey Porter, well, there will be only one nickname for the linebackers:

"Joey Porter's Pit Bulls." 

All too often last year, we found ourselves screaming, "Where are the linebackers?"  Hopefully, with this newly rebuilt linebacking corps, we won't have to do that anymore.

Rebuilding the Linebacking Corps

"No, I didn't do my job there. I miss-fit it. I just miss-fit it. A miss-fit is not fit. No, I just didn't get over to my gap. I was supposed to be on his other shoulder. (The big plays) are very frustrating, but I don't know if surprised is a proper word for it."

That quote was from Troy Polamalu describing why he was late and out of position on Dolphins running back Daniel Thomas's 55-yard run in the fourth quarter of Miami's Dec. 8 win over the Steelers at Heinz Field.  

In his own words, Troy just "mis-fit it."
That's because Troy was a misfit at the linebacker position and would never have been playing there if the Steelers had anybody else to do it in 2013.

Enter Ryan Shazier, the 2014 first-round draft choice.  

Linebackers coach Keith Butler said something interesting about the selection of Shazier:

"We couldn't pass him up when he was there. There were a lot of guys that we liked at that spot, but they were all drafted. So, when he came, a guy with that type of speed, you can't pass him up. He's going to make us immediately faster on defense."

We can speculate on which players Butler was referring to who were already drafted, but we can guess they were cornerbacks Justin Gilbert and Kyle Fuller, pass-rushing linebacker Anthony Barr, and wide receiver Odell Beckham, Jr.

Not to discount the need for a top-notch corner or wide receiver, but if the drafting of Ryan Shazier in the first round of the NFL draft caught most of Steeler Nation by surprise because linebacker didn't seem to be "a position of need," it's only evidence that most people have short memories. 

Where were the linebackers?
As painful as it is, however, let's not forget how how invisible the linebackers were throughout most of the season, most glaringly in the losses to Miami and at Oakland (Oct. 27).

The linebackers are supposed to be the backbone of this defense. Too often last season,however, Joey Porter's Pit Bulls screamed in dismay, "Where are the linebackers?"

Glaringly Obvious
Throughout 2013, the Steelers surrendered five running plays of 48 yards or more, 12 pass plays of 40 yards or more, and 10 running plays that went for 15 yards or more. The linebackers were a big part of those breakdowns.

It took Jason Worilds until the final half of last season, the final year of his first contract, to play well enough to win a one-year mega-contract that salvaged his Steelers' career for one more season, at least.  

The rest of the linebacking corps was spotty at best. Lawrence Timmons played like a monster in some games (17 tackles vs. Baltimore; 12 vs. Oakland, with a broken hand), but not so well in others. 

Jarvis Jones showed flashes and improved late in the season, but for the most past he looked small, played small and was a step or so late to the play on most occasions. Jones needs to improve dramatically this year.

Most glaringly, perhaps, the loss of veteran Larry Foote to injury in the first game necessitated the play of rookie sixth-rounder Vince Williams, who played like a rookie sixth-rounder. Williams has the makings of a thumper, but by November he had lost his short-lived opportunity to seize a full-time job because he was too slow and was out of position too often.

Just as crucially, Williams showed an inability to cover receivers -- a real problem in a passing league. There's a place in the league for Williams; he can be a solid player. But Williams lost playing time in some situations to the much faster Terence Garvin, who actually looked good in flashes, but more so to Troy Polamalu. And that took Polamalu away from what he does best.

And all of that led to the drafting of Ryan Shazier. Besides which, Justin Gilbert, Kyle Fuller, Anthony Barr and Odell Beckham were gone. Inside linebacker really was a crucial "need position" for this draft. It was, in fact, a position of glaring need. 

As if to underscore that point, the Steelers added ILB Jordan Zumwalt in this sixth round (same as Vince Williams). Presumably, Zumwalt will work on special teams and compete with Williams and Sean Spence for a backup linebacker spot. He has a shot.

Not to hand Shazier a job or anything, but he should start immediately. If he doesn't, we're right back to where we were at the end of last season.

Lots of Story Lines Today

The big news in Steeler Nation this week is the placement of linebacker LaMarr Woodley on injured reserve, ending his season and possibly his career in Pittsburgh. Jarvis Jones will start, and it is unclear who will be the top back-up. Maybe veteran Chris Carter, but Terance Garvin may see some snaps although he is listed on the depth chart as an inside linebacker.

Whether Woodley remains a Steeler after this season became a topic of some increasingly robust discussion over the past couple weeks. Over the past few days, especially, speculation grew that Woodley could be gone after this season. The Post-Gazette's Gerry Dulac indicates that is a pretty much a foregone conclusion. That's a question that will sort itself out after the season.

Meanwhile, in Packer Land ...
In Wisconsin, there is considerable angst over the status of quarterback Aaron Rodgers' medical clearance for a possible return to action after being out for the past six weeks with a broken collarbone. Rodgers is one of the best in the game, but if he's not medically cleared to play, he won't play. Simple as that.

Back-up Matt Flynn, who was on the street as a waived player just a few weeks ago, has led the Packers the two straight wins following four losses and a tie by Green Bay in its previous five games. Last Sunday in Dallas, the Packers scored 34 points in the second half to rally from a 23-point halftime deficit to defeat the Cowboys and place themselves right in the thick of the NFC North playoff race.

It was a rousing win, and the Packers hope to ride that momentum this week. If they win their final two games (Steelers and Bears), they'll make the playoffs.

Bell and Lacy
A story line this week will be the respective performances of running backs Le'Veon Bell and Eddie Lacy. The Steelers drafted Bell (Michigan State) 48th overall in the second round instead of Lacy (Alabama), who went to the Packers 61st overall in the second round.

After battling early-season injuries, Bell has looked solid for the Steelers.

• Bell has 43 catches for 388 yards and 646 yards rushing on 96 carries. 

• Lacy has 31 catches for 236 yards and 1,028 yards rushing on 248 carries and is in a leading candidate for offensive rookie of the year. He had 141 yards rushing last Sunday vs. the Cowboys. 

At yesterday's news conference, Mike Tomlin said the decision to draft Bell over Lacy was "an easy one for me."  

It's very early in their respective careers, and way too early for second-guessing. Joey Porter's Pit Bulls like Bell a lot and wanted the Steelers to draft him -- but we also were surprised the Steelers took him in the second round. He'd been projected to go later (third or even fourth round), so selecting him in the second round seemed a bit of an over-reach. They believe in him, though, and we'd love to see him succeed. Both he and Lacy appear to be good players.

Who's better? Just enjoy the show on Sunday.

The Big Linebacker Question

When healthy, LaMarr Woodley proved he can be a dominant player, a beast, good enough that the Steelers signed him to a $61.5 million contract.

It remains to be seen how long Woodley's latest calf injury (the other calf) will keep him out of the lineup. If it's the rest of the season, he will have missed five games this year.

Woodley missed three games with a hamstring injury in 2012 and six games the year before that.

In the 11 games in which Woodley has appeared this season, he's had five sacks and been in on 36 tackles (20 solo tackles; 16 assists). There were four games in which he had zero tackles.

The Steelers' decision last off-season to move on from James Harrison signaled a changing of the guard in the linebacker corps. After years as one of the great Steelers, Harrison's age and salary conspired against his future employment with the Steelers. Age and salary had caught up previously with outstanding linebackers such as Joey Porter, Jason Gildon and Greg Lloyd.

The same may be happening with LaMarr Woodley. Already.

The seventh-year veteran is only 29, but that means the wrong side of 30 is just around the corner. His 2013 salary is $3.6 million. His 2014 salary is to be $8 million (with a $14 million salary cap hit).

The Post-Gazette's Ed Bouchette has been talking about that issue lately. In his Q-and-A on the Post-Gazette's website the other day, he was asked about it the other day:

• Question: Ed, Since it will cost the Steelers $14 million to cut Woodley, he does not seem like a reasonable cap casualty, so where does that leave this team? Should they cut Troy? How can they resign Worilds with so much dead money in front of them?

• Ed Bouchette: I keep hearing about that $14 million figure, but that would be if they cut him before June 1. If they designated him for June 2 or cut him then, he would count only $5.5 million on their cap this year and SAVE them $8 million in cap room and real money.

Where are the Linebackers?

A this point, there's no sense over-analyzing the play of the Steelers' linebackers this year. Just let's say, to be kind, that their performance has been "uneven" all season. At times, it seemed, they disappeared, and Joey Porter's Pit Bulls were screaming in dismay, "Where are the linebackers?!"

To be fair, Jason Worilds has come on strong over the past five games and has shown burst, explosiveness and playmaking ability that we saw little of during his first three seasons. Worilds has brought pressure and played well enough during this stretch that the Steelers must consider re-signing him in the off-season. It may be too late to retain Worilds, however, as greener pastures will surely beckon, just as they do every year for guys like Paul Kruger, Danell Ellerbee and Victor Butler, last year's darlings on the free-agent market.

Lawrence Timmons more or less gets a pass, although his own performance has been a bit up and down. He had a monster 17-tackle performance in the first Ravens game and 12 tackles (with a broken hand) in Oakland, but he had only five tackles last Sunday against Miami. Only five tackles from an inside linebacker isn't very good.

Overall, the performance at linebacker this year has been a problem, to say the least. So has the lack of depth, and plain talent.

Isn't there something lacking, or plain wrong, when Troy Polamalu is lined up linebacker a bit too often? There sure was last Sunday, when Polamalu was late moving laterally and got crushed on a block that helped free running back Daniel Thomas for his 55-yard run late in the fourth quarter.

"No, I didn't do my job there,'' Polamalu said. "I miss-fit it. I just miss-fit it. A miss-fit is not fit. No, I just didn't get over to my gap. I was supposed to be on his other shoulder. (The big plays) are very frustrating, but I don't know if surprised is a proper word for it. I've been on defenses that really have made their money on now allowing them at all or one in a season or two in a season.

That quote came from Dale Grdinic's fine write-up here over at Behind the Steel Curtain, profiling Polamalu's dual role at safety and linebacker this season.

Schematically, it may make sense for Polamalu to bring his special skills to the linebacker position for some plays, but he was positioned at linebacker for about 50 percent of the snaps against Miami. That means two things: (1) When at linebacker, he's not roaming on the back end as a safety; and (2) He wouldn't even be at linebacker if the Steelers had anybody else capable of doing it.  Larry Foote is on injured reserve, and nobody else at this point is either good enough or healthy enough to do the job.

Time for the young guys to step up.

One reason Polamalu has had to play so much at linebacker is the lack of progress (or talent) from some of the younger guys. Rookie sixth-rounder Vince Williams has played like a rookie sixth-rounder. He's shown some potential to be a thumper, maybe, but he's already lost, at least temporarily, his short-lived opportunity to seize the starter's job because he got caught out of position too often and was generally so slow that he was a real detriment. Just as crucially, he didn't show that he can cover receivers, and that's a problem in a passing league. He could develop, but he's not ready yet.

Neither is rookie first-rounder Jarvis Jones. He's played small, and he looks small, which has been a concern from the very first day we saw him at mini-camp. Jones has shown flashes at times, but at this point, he looks like "just a guy," and one with a 4.92 40 time. Small and slow is not what the Steelers need from their prize first-round draft choice. They need him to make an impact.

Undrafted free agent Terence Garvin hasn't gotten on the field a whole lot, but he may be the most impressive, so far, of the three rookies. He's relatively light but rangy and fast, and he's shown playmaking instincts in small sample sizes. There may be a place for him.

The other backups, Kion Wilson and Stevenson Sylvester, are hanging on as fringe players. Each is "just a guy."  Neither was able to seize the opportunity to nail down playing time once they had their opportunity. Injured Sean Spence may never see the field, as he is still recovering from the massive knee injury he suffered in his rookie training camp. Chris Carter has been a non-factor since he arrived in 2011.

Whither Woodley?
And that, finally, brings us to the Big Kahuna, the highest-paid linebacker on the team, LaMarr Woodley. Before getting hurt and missing three games before Miami, Woodley was leading the team in sacks with five, but he's had only 36 tackles (20 solo) in the 10 games he's played this year.

It all looked so promising when
LaMarr Woodley appeared on the cover of
the Sept. 2, 2011 issue of
Sports Illustrated. The SI cover curse?

This year, there have been four games Woodley has registered zero tackles. ZERO. He didn't even get in on any assisted tackles. Four games with ZERO tackles. Those four games were Baltimore, Cleveland, Detroit and Oakland.

The best you could say about Woodley's performance is that it has been sporadically okay -- but he hasn't been the linebacker who showed enough a few years ago that the Steelers signed him to a $61.5 million contract. He's been injury prone ever since signing that deal and just not as productive as he was for about two years beforehand, when he was an absolute beast as the bookend opposite James Harrison.

Joey Porter's Pit Bulls don't necessarily agree with people who say that Woodley got "fat and happy" -- and out of shape-- after signing that deal.  Yet the production and the impact hasn't been there, although he entered this season apparently determined to show otherwise.

Columnist Dejean Kovacevic noted the following about LaMarr Woodley and his performance during last Sunday's game vs. the Dolphins:

LaMarr Woodley lost his spot at left outside linebacker in being shifted to the right for Jason Worilds, already humbling for a $61.5 million player, then turned in a total of three tackles and zero QB hits from the right. 

“I think it worked out pretty good,” Woodley said, oblivious as ever to his own shortcomings.

"Oblivious as ever to his own shortcomings." Ouch. Well, that's Kovacevic's comment, not ours. But the fact that comments like that are out there, well, they wouldn't be out there if Woodley didn't invite them.

Woodley had zero tackles in the loss at Oakland, and afterwards had some interesting comments, as noted in the following excerpt of a column by the Post-Gazette's Gene Collier (with the bold-faced emphasis below courtesy of yours truly):

"This is no step back for us; we're still movin' forward," said linebacker LaMarr Woodley, whose movements seemed almost designed to avoid tackles in a 21-18 loss to an almost equally dreadful football team. "We just had some mistakes out there and the Raiders capitalized on it. So, we're still a good football team, but we gave up some big plays. That's the only thing you can really look back on. You gave up some big plays. I wouldn't question us as a football team."

If the Steelers really want to retain Jason Worilds next year, that may require applying the franchise tag on him. And that would require jettisoning some other big contracts, one of which might be Woodley's.

There almost certainly will be others, and we wonder if Maurkice Pouncey's name is one of the ones being bandied about in Steeler offices on the South Side. Woodley and Pouncey would land elsewhere, of course, and possibly do well.  Yet the Steelers may need to free up cap space, and those would be two candidates that will bear scrutiny, among others (Ike Taylor, Troy Polamalu, Levi Brown, Matt Spaeth, etc.)

Their respective 2014 cap hits? According to this report cited at Behind the Steel Curtain, Woodley's 2014 cap hit will be $13.59 million; Pouncey's will be $5.55 million.

They're not the only players with big cap numbers, but Woodley's will be the second-largest on the team (behind Ben Roethlisberger), and the Steelers may consider moving Maurkice Pouncey in a trade for badly needed draft picks, considering they've already traded their 2014 third-round choice to Cleveland and will be docked a later-round pick because of Mike Tomlin's sideline antics in Baltimore. Naturally, however, before moving Pouncey, the Steelers would need to feel comfortable they have a satisfactory replacement for him.

Anything's a possibility. One thing's for sure: They need improved play at linebacker.