Of the surprises on the Pittsburgh Steelers preliminary 53-man roster, S Jalen Elliott was atop that checklist for a lot of. At this time, I wished to take a look at his NFL contributions to this point.
Drafted in 2020 by the Detroit Lions, Elliott had no snaps within the preseason or common season his rookie 12 months. The one time he noticed the sector on protection within the common season was 2021 with simply 92 snaps. The factor that stands proud trying again had been 4 missed tackles, with a poor 33.3-percent missed deal with charge.
Elliott additionally noticed the sector in 2021 on particular groups, a five-teamer with 138 snaps. Included in these alternatives had been three solo tackles and an help, however two missed tackles, and a 44.9 PFF particular groups grade. So, his common season alternatives had been fairly a while in the past, and had missed deal with points on protection and particular groups.
The place Jalen Elliott fared the perfect within the 2024 preseason was particular groups, seemingly incomes his roster spot. With this in thoughts, and his common season alternatives coated, I wished to dive deeper into his preseason particular groups work since 2021.
Right here’s how he fared in these 4 seasons, taking a look at particular groups snaps (minimal of 15 per season) and PFF particular groups grades:
The visible provides a way of Elliott’s constructive pattern this 2024 preseason, providing nicely above common snaps (32) and 76.6 grade among the many slew of qualifiers (3,002). This could seemingly be the side of the sport we’d see him if he earns any common season alternatives, and nice to see his finest contributions this preseason since 2021.
Sure, accidents to others, together with shedding rookie S Ryan Watts long-term within the place room issue into the equation. However finally, Elliott withstood cutdown day, and it will likely be fascinating to see if he can proceed to supply constructive play on particular groups. That aspect of the ball was fairly regarding this preseason for Pittsburgh, so maintaining succesful gamers reminiscent of Elliott is sensible after the context from the examine.
The priority is missed tackles, which confirmed up persistently on protection, no matter preseason or common season. His solely common season with particular groups snaps was 2021 and featured two missed tackles. Optimistically although, just one missed deal with throughout 4 preseasons on particular groups, so he was cleaner in these circumstances. Nevertheless, that missed deal with did happen this preseason although.
It’s clear that barring damage, particular groups can be the seemingly path if Elliott had been to see the sector within the 2024 common season. That in fact is not any assure, with the tip of the roster ever-changing game-to-game. It does appear extra seemingly for Elliott to be inactive on the finish of the roster. But it surely’s good to know that if the Steelers really feel so inclined, Elliott may doubtlessly contribute there. If that’s the case, right here’s to hoping we see a carry-over of fine particular groups play this preseason into video games that matter in 2024.
