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Tim McManus, ESPN Staff Writer
PHILADELPHIA — When linebacker Myles Jack was cut by the Pittsburgh Steelers in March, he had a decision to make: fight to stay in the NFL for an eighth season or begin readying for a zombie apocalypse.
For a while, he was leaning toward the latter.
But his old high school friend, Arizona Cardinals safety Budda Baker, convinced Jack to train with him in Scottsdale for a few weeks. A few weeks turned into a few months. And soon the idea of going to trade school — he had thoughts of becoming an electrician or plumber — went on the backburner as his desire to continue playing football grew.
An extended state of limbo abruptly halted when he was signed by the Philadelphia Eagles on August 6, putting him in a prime position to compete for a meaningful role on a team with legitimate title hopes.
“That’s just how life goes,” Jack said. “One week you’re on the couch playing Call of Duty, the next week you’re playing with the [NFC] champions.”
It moved that quickly. Jack, the former UCLA star and 2016 second-round pick of the Jaguars, was at his Jacksonville home working out in his little garage gym when he got a FaceTime call from general manager Howie Roseman. That was on a Saturday. On Sunday he was headed to Philadelphia for a workout, packing a bag with just pairs of “drawers,” two pairs of sweats, two pairs of socks and his Bible. His flight was delayed and he didn’t get in until 3 a.m. Sunday.
His workout was that afternoon, and he did well enough to secure a one-year deal with the Eagles.
“I went to Ross and bought me some white t-shirts and I’m here. That’s how it goes,” he said. “Here’s your playbook and [two days later] you’re out here practicing.”
Jack’s first practice was Tuesday and he was thrown right into the mix, receiving first-team reps for a defense that’s still unsettled at the linebacker spot.
“Obviously for a while, we’ve studied his tape coming out of college and evaluated him there, watched him play his time in Jacksonville and Pittsburgh and then got to visit with him when he came and worked out,” said Eagles defensive coordinator Sean Desai. “We felt good. … We’re fortunate that he’s part of us right now.”
Having been cut by the Jaguars and Steelers in consecutive years, the 27-year-old was weighing his options early this offseason and believed becoming an electrician or plumber might be the way to go. He’s made enough money to retire and just sit around the house if he wanted to, he explained, but said his mind is too curious.
“I just want to be innovative. I don’t know, if a zombie apocalypse happens I want to be able to build something or fix something,” he joked.
Baker, who calls Jack his best friend, wasn’t having it. He insisted Jack join him in Arizona and work with his trainer, Justin King. Jack resisted at first before agreeing to come out for three weeks. He ended up staying for more than three months.
“He trained hard, changed his whole body, changed the way he worked,” Baker said. “That’s all she wrote there.”
The results were rather dramatic, according to King. Jack came in with his body fat in the low 20s and left with it at 12 percent. His vertical jump improved by over four inches, and his lower body force output almost doubled. And a lot of the knee and hip issues Jack had been dealing with resolved, King added, while his range of motion improved.
“I don’t want to paint the wrong picture because of course he’s a [force] with or without good training. We’re a small portion of what he does,” King said. “But he was extremely limited in a lot of ways in the beginning of this offseason, and in his own words, this is the best he’s ever felt.
“He did something really cool mentally, not knowing for sure if he was going to go another year or not but wanted to work the hardest he ever has his entire career and go all-in. Everyone will see: it will pay off big-time for him this year.”
There is no shortage of opportunity. The Eagles lost both of their starting linebackers from 2022, T.J. Edwards and Kyzir White, in free agency. Second-year player Nakobe Dean is expected to secure one of those spots, while a rotating cast led by Nicholas Morrow and Christian Elliss are vying for the other spot. Jack and Zach Cunningham were signed on the same day, coach Nick Sirianni believing that the addition of a couple of veteran linebackers would help “raise the level of everybody else in the room.”
Having coached in the AFC South with the Indianapolis Colts, Sirianni is plenty familiar with Jack and called him one of the better athletes on a Jaguars defense that was loaded with them. He added that the research they did on both Jack and Cunningham gave them confidence that they could handle learning a new scheme in short order.
Jack was named the Pac-12 offensive and defensive freshman of the year after starring as both a running back and linebacker for the Bruins in 2013. He was a two-time All-Pac-12 selection, but questions surrounding what was described at the time as a degenerative knee condition tampered expectations as he entered the NFL.
He has gone on to rack up over 600 tackles over seven seasons. His best statistical year came in 2018 for the Jaguars when he posted 107 tackles, 2.5 sacks, and an interception return for a touchdown. He signed a four-year, $57 million extension that offseason, becoming the third-highest-paid inside linebacker at the time.
Jack has eclipsed 100 tackles each of the last three seasons and started 42 games over that span, but was released by Jacksonville in 2022 for cap reasons and then by the Steelers last offseason, reportedly in part due to inconsistency in his play.
After a little soul-searching, he now he finds himself in Philadelphia, hoping to positively impact a team with Super Bowl aspirations.
“This process has been stressful. Going through it, I didn’t enjoy it,” he said, “but looking back on it I think it’s going to make me a better man, a better person, and a better player.”
Added Baker: “He’s 27 years old. Young still. Still a great defensive player. He just maybe needed a helping hand.”
Cardinals reporter Josh Weinfuss contributed to this story.