Jarvis Jones Loses Starting Role to James Harrison
There may be no NFL team more desperate for any semblance of a pass rush than the Pittsburgh Steelers. The team is in such dire need of a man to pressure the quarterback that former first-round letdown Jarvis Jones has lost his job to the 38-year-old James Harrison.
Pittsburgh will surely look to the veteran to offer a much-needed spark on defense against the winless Cleveland Browns this Sunday.
The news is sure to excite fans baying for “Deebo†to break the franchise sack record (his 77 sacks stand just a half-sack away from Jason Gildon’s mark), but it illustrates just how thin Pittsburgh’s pass rush is, with a brutal struggle for the AFC North crown looming.
Jones has not developed into the edge rushing threat the Steelers hoped he would be when he has drafted 17th overall in 2011. At the conclusion of his fourth season, Jones will be a free agent care of the team choosing not to pick up the fifth-year option on his contract. This latest demotion could well sound the early death knell for Jones in the black and gold.
And despite showing gradual improvement throughout his last couple of seasons, making a number of the “splash plays†so often demanded by head coach Mike Tomlin, Jones remains unpolished and ineffective in the one category that justifies big bucks at his position: sacks.
Jones’ diminished role this Sunday could leave the door open for the returning Bud Dupree to see more game time. The promising second-year OLB shared Jones’ rawness coming out of college, but is a far more athletic, disruptive prospect. Before he hit the proverbial rookie wall last year, Dupree had 4 sacks in his first 8 games, including one on his first ever defensive drive.
It remains to be seen how much, if at all, the Steelers will use the rusty Dupree and ageless Harrison against a Browns offense that doesn’t veer far from its conservative, dink-and-dunk playbook. But with Pittsburgh’s defensive unit reeling, both men will need to make their presence felt in the lead up to the playoffs.
