Steelers bring back former starting ILB Myles Jack, add him to practice squad
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A new (old) face is back in the Pittsburgh Steelers locker room.
Myles Jack, a 2022 starter for the team, was signed to the Steelers practice squad Monday. A veteran inside linebacker, Jack provides reinforcement at a position where the Steelers lost two of their three co-starters to season-ending injuries in consecutive games earlier this month.
Still just 28 years old, Jack has appeared in 103 NFL regular-season games and made 95 starts over a seven-year career that had him with the Jacksonville Jaguars from 2016-21 before he signed with the Steelers as a free agent prior to last season.
Jack started 13 of the 15 games he played for the Steelers last season, beginning it as the partner for Devin Bush at ILB but ending it as a backup to Robert Spillane and then-rookie Mark Robinson. Jack also missed two games because of injury and late in the season was hindered by a groin injury.
The Steelers revamped their inside linebackers corps over the offseason, parting ways with Jack, Spillane and Bush and signing veterans Cole Holcomb, Elandon Roberts and Kwon Alexander. That trio appeared to be working out until Holcomb suffered a knee injury during a Nov. 2 win against the Tennessee Titans, and Alexander tore an Achilles in the Steelers’ next game 10 days later.
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Roberts played every snap during this past Sunday’s loss at the Cleveland Browns, and the only other inside linebacker to play on defense was Mykal Walker. He had been out of work and signed to the Steelers practice squad Oct. 30.
Robinson remains on the roster, and veteran Tariq Carpenter has been a practice-squad call-up the past two games who has been limited to special-teams work.
Jack was not in the locker room, nor did he have a roster stall, during a period open to the media early Monday afternoon. His signing was announced at 4 p.m.
After his release by the Steelers in March in the wake of the signings of Holcomb and Roberts, Jack went unsigned until linking up with the Philadelphia Eagles two weeks into training camp. He at one point said he was considering trade school in the interim, and only two weeks into his Eagles’ tenure Jack announced he was retiring following a preseason appearance.
Last month, Jack and his mother purchased a minor-league hockey franchise, the Allen Americans of the ECHL.
Thompson promoted
After serving a prominent role in the secondary Sunday, safety Trenton Thompson was promoted from the practice squad to the active roster.
Thompson joined the Steelers during training camp and had spent the regular season on the practice squad. He appeared in one game (special teams only) for the New York Giants as an undrafted rookie last season.
With All-Pro Minkah Fitzpatrick out because of a groin injury and co-starter Keanu Neal on IR because of a rib injury, Thompson played 77% of the Steelers’ 75 defensive snaps in Cleveland. He was second on the team in tackles with six (five solo) in addition to two passes defensed.
The 6-foot-1, 196-pound Thompson had made his Steelers debut the prior week. During a win against the Green Bay Packers, Thompson was limited to two special-teams snaps until the final drive of the game when he played every down as the Steelers sealed a win with a Damontae Kazee interception in the end zone.
Thompson takes the roster spot of Elijah Riley, a versatile defensive back and special teamer who suffered what coach Mike Tomlin called “a high ankle” injury during the loss to the Browns.
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