The Pittsburgh Steelers signed unrestricted free agent inside linebacker Jon Bostic to a two-year contract on Sunday and while Alex Kozora puts together a full breakdown for you that should be posted later this evening, below are seven things to know about the newest addition.
1 – Bostic participated in the 2013 NFL Scouting Combine and below are his results as tabulated on that day in addition to a short video of him performing in Indianapolis.
| HGT | WGT | ARMS | 40 TIME | 10 TIME | BENCH | VERT | JUMP | 20 S | 60 S | 3 CONE |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6007 | 245 | 33 | 4.61 | 1.58 | 22 | 32.5 | 9’10” | 4.24 | DNP | 6.99 |
2 – Prior to suffering his knee injury late last season in the Week 15 game against the Denver Broncos, Bostic had missed all of three defensive snaps in the Colts first 14 games. The three snaps that he missed came in the Week 8 game against the Cincinnati Bengals. In short, he was an every-down player for the Colts in 2017 prior to being injured.
3 – Regarding Bostic’s knee injury, below is All-22 video of the third quarter running play it happened on against the Broncos.
Bostic’s knee injury versus Broncos – #Steelers pic.twitter.com/Ms9IDgedKE
— Steelers Depot (@Steelersdepot) March 18, 2018
4 – In the 914 total defensive snaps that Bostic played in 2017 with the Colts, he registered 40 stops and had just 5 missed tackles, according to Pro Football Focus. From Weeks 5 to 15, Bostic reportedly only missed one tackle.
5 – Then a member of the Detroit Lions, Bostic missed the entire 2016 season with a foot injury that he suffered during a training camp practice at Latrobe against Steelers.
6 – When Bostic was a member of the Chicago Bears in 2014, New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick talked quite a bit about the linebacker’s skill set during a conference call with the media. Below is the question Belichick was asked and the part of his response that included him talking about Bostic. The Patriots, by the way, traded for Bostic in September of 2015. Bostic was then traded by the Patriots to the Lions in May of 2016.
Question: I’m sure you don’t have a ton of experience looking at the Bears back-seven back there on defense because a lot of guys have gone down this season. What are your impressions of what the Bears have had to do defensively and who are some guys who have stuck out to you while trying to study that defense? Read
Belichick: Yeah, that’s a really good question. We’ve seen a lot of different combinations back there. You know, I’d say starting at the linebacker level, with D.J. [Williams] and [Lance] Briggs and [Shea] McClellin, pretty experienced, athletic group. [Jonathan] Bostic is kind of their sub linebacker and has played all three spots in their regular defense, so he’s a pretty versatile guy for them, very athletic, runs well. So, I’d say that their linebackers all are athletic, they cover a lot of space. Briggs is a very instinctive player. D.J. has a lot of experience. Bostic is a smart guy, he’s a good coverage linebacker. Those four guys, Khaseem Greene has also shown up in there. He’s another very instinctive player – Big East Player of the Year and all that. Very productive guy, around the ball a lot. Christian Jones runs very well. He’s kind of like Bostic, bigger, but like Bostic in that he’s a very fast guy. I’d say overall, even though they’ve had some different combinations, they have good team speed in there.
7 – Bostic’s father, John Bostic, was a sixth-round selection of the Kansas City Chiefs during the 1985 NFL Draft. He went on to play two-plus seasons in the NFL as a backup defensive back with the Lions.
