The Steelers haven’t started a rookie on defense in their season opener in more than a decade, so it wasn’t much surprise that Jarvis Jones played behind Jason Worilds at outside linebacker against the Titans.
One week may be all that Jones has to wait before ascending to the first team, however. Jones worked with the starters at practice on Wednesday and said afterwards that he can’t control whether or not he’s a starter, but that he wants to be one and that he’ll work to make sure that the way things looked on Wednesday remains the way they look on Monday against the Bengals.
“That’s the way it is right now,” Jones said, via Gerry Dulac of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. “As long as I continue to keep doing what I’m doing, I hope it stays like that.”
Jones plays 26 snaps, making a pair of tackles including a stop behind the line on Titans running back Chris Johnson, last week while Worilds played 47 as the starter. However the defense looks when the Steelers take the field for the first time on Monday, that spread is going to shrink or disappear completely as long as Jones continues to show he’s capable of doing the job.