Jarvis Jones is one move away from being the pass rusher the Steelers need

Now that he is on PUP list and will miss at least the first six weeks of the season, it’s a pretty sure bet that Green wasn’t being entirely honest. While I still believe that if he can get healthy for the last 10 games, he will still have a major impact for Pittsburgh, there just is no way to know for sure if he will get healthy this year. Therefore I decided to pick another guy, on short notice mind you, to be the Steelers’ breakout player this season.

And that guy is ... outside linebacker Jarvis Jones!

Even though he is my second choice don’t take that as a slight against Jones. The truth of the matter is I thought he played pretty well last year, starting 15 regular season games and both playoff games, but he just didn’t come home with that many sacks which tends to make folks feel like his play was lacking. I’m not saying that he doesn’t need to improve in that department, but at the same time the guy made plays all year.

Of course the elephant in the room is that Jones is still being over shadowed by the hundred and sixty se’em year old wonder, James “Deebo” Harrison with whom he continues to split time.

Regardless of his age, Harrison just knows how to make plays, and it seems seems like he makes more big plays than Jones even though they usually get about the same amount of reps. Harrison, for instance, as Jones’ “backup” had five sacks last season to Jones’ two.

Regardless of Harrison’s performance, you would just expect a starting edge rusher to have more sacks than that quite frankly.

Heading into his fourth season, I’m sure even the Steelers thought that Jones would’ve had that position locked all the way down by now and the fact that he hasn’t probably played into their decision to not pick up his fifth year option.

Jones’ story, however, isn’t as simple as that.

First, he had a very serious injury to his wrist early in his second season just as it looked as if he was about to take off. Even after coming back from that injury, he reportedly has never regained full range of motion with his wrist. That can definitely be problematic for an edge rusher when you consider how much they have to use their hands.

Then there is the fact that when Jones came out of college he was very raw in pretty much all phases of the game. He needed better technique in almost every facet of his game and he looked like a fish out of water in pass coverage. Combine that with the injury, which surely curtailed some of his technique work, and it’s not all that surprising that it has taken him awhile to really put every thing together.

One thing that always jumped out on last year’s film was his athleticism. He may still be learning all the nuances of the position, but man, can he make some outstanding plays out in space when provided the opportunity.

Last year he was still trying to get that athleticism to shine through as a pass rusher. I believe he continued to make progress in that area all season long regardless of what those sack numbers would have you believe.

He also did a helluva job setting the edge against the run. He looks to have gotten a lot stronger since he got in the league and tight ends routinely got rag dolled when they tried to block him. I’m not sure how much better his wrist is, but I do know it didn’t seem to hinder him much in that area.

I would be remiss if I didn’t talk about Jones’ motor because the dude made a ton of plays just by hauling ass down the field after the ball was thrown or after the ball carrier broke through the line. If you have read my stuff before, you know it takes a lot for a guy to impress me with his effort because I expect guys to hustle every play anyway, but Jones stood out in that regard because he never seemed to believe that any play was too far away for him to make.

That’s the kind of attitude you really want for your entire defense, especially from your guys up front. That’s what you call being a tone setter and it can be infectious for the whole squad.

So here’s the deal, Jones has pretty much all the attributes you would normally want in an edge rusher. He may not run a 4.5, but he has plenty enough speed to turn the corner as a pass rusher. He is above average against the run. He also gets his Forrest Gump on running to the ball. All he has to do now is put all that together and combine it with just a little bit better pass rush technique and I think the guy will take off this season.

What he really has to do is find him a signature pass rush move, preferably a finesse move, rather than all of those bull rushes he attempted last season. He is strong, but not that strong and even a guy like Harrison who can bench press a bear wins more with his rip move than his power moves.

Against the Saints this preseason I thought Jones had a really nice dip-and-rip to get around the corner and get pressure on the quarterback, something I just didn’t see a lot of last season. If he can continue to work that move over and over this season then he is going to give most left tackles fits, especially if he mixes in some power as well. That should set the stage for him to have a huge year. I don’t know that he will get to double digit sacks, but if he doesn’t I still expect him to get miiiiighty close. That in and of itself would be a significant step forward considering Jones only has five sacks in his first three seasons combined. Even though I’m a huge Harrison fan, I do believe that this is the season when Jones finally surpasses him and becomes the edge rusher of the future that he was drafted to be.

The bottom line is this, if Jarvis Jones can stay healthy this season then he is probably going to make the Steelers regret declining his fifth year option after all.