Jacksonville Jaguars surprise stud: LB Myles Jack
The Jacksonville Jaguars are 2-2 and one of the league’s most talented young defenses. A surprise stud so far this season has been LB Myles Jack…
While the Jacksonville Jaguars’ offense is lagging behind, the defense is stepping up big time to start the 2017 season. Linebacker Myles Jack, a second round pick in the 2016 NFL Draft, is a major reason for their defensive prowess.
Jack has been a surprise stud for the Jaguars after a slow start to his NFL career, which was understandable given the injury concerns he entered the league with.
This young player has a fascinating story, and the reason for him playing just 239 snaps as a rookie are only a small part of it.
In case you’ve already forgotten, or didn’t know in the first place, Jack was one of the most dynamic playmakers in the country at UCLA, showing off an ability to play both offense and defense with 11 career rushing touchdowns and 87 tackles, eight tackles for loss, and seven pass breakups in 2014.
That was all before the injury bug bit him hard just three games into the 2015 season at UCLA, effectively ending his collegiate career and putting his professional future in serious doubt.
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Considered a top five prospect in the draft when healthy, Jack’s knee injury was something that was deemed serious enough to potentially cut short his NFL career. Because of that loss of value, Jack slipped all the way out of the first round of the draft, and the Jaguars scooped him up in the early portion of round two.
It was a virtual risk-free scenario for the Jags, who may have been getting one of the best defensive players in the draft — the same draft in which they picked Jalen Ramsey.
In the grand scheme of things, taking a shot on a player like Jack for just a second round pick.
So far, that risk has paid off in a big way.
After playing minimal snaps in his rookie year, Jack has been an every-down player for the Jaguars in year two, and he’s been excellent:
Four linebackers have yet to miss a tackle in over 100 snaps this season. Myles Jack hasn't missed one in 264 pic.twitter.com/6RImDm1Gi6
— PFF (@PFF) October 3, 2017
Going 100 snaps without missing a tackle in the NFL is very clearly uncommon. Only three players at the linebacker position have done it this year. Going over 250 snaps without missing a tackle?
No one in the NFL has done that this season besides Myles Jack. This isn’t too unlike a quarterback going 264 snaps without throwing an interception. The guy is about as sure of a thing as it gets in today’s NFL, despite whatever long-term concerns there are about his knee.
His knee, by the way, didn’t look too bad on this play…
Don't 👏 count 👏 us 👏 out 👏@MylesJack scoops it up and takes it 81 yards for the TD.#JAXvsNYJ pic.twitter.com/Tgq0Oza5wr
— Jacksonville Jaguars (@Jaguars) October 1, 2017
This surprise stud isn’t going to surprise any defensive coordinators the rest of the season. He’s turning into a player defenses are going to have to gameplan around.
Jack has a whopping 15 run stops this year already, and 34 total tackles.
The knee looks good, and so does Jack’s football career.