Steelers who marched us to madness: Jacoby Jones

March Madness is everywhere you look, so we here at Steel City Underground felt like getting in on the craze with a Steelers-inspired tournament all our own: Steelers Who Marched Us to Madness.

The concept is simple. Over a period of the last five seasons, there have been a number of additions the Steelers have made who came in with high expectations. Several of those additions ended as subtractions for one reason or another, leaving Pittsburgh after a disappointing run with the franchise.

We have compiled eight of those names into a March Madness-style tournament, with you, the fans, voting on who was the most disappointing acquisition who “marched us to madness”.

Steelers who marched us to madness round one

Note: realizing this could be a bit insensitive to the actual player discussed, we would like to remind everyone that the tournament only involves past players and you should only consider their time with the Steelers when voting or leaving comments. This is merely an entertainment exercise to gauge fan expectation versus how a player’s tenure in Pittsburgh turned out, which may have been disappointing for any variety of reasons.

Let’s look at today’s participant.

Jacoby Jones

Jacoby Jones was a long-time receiver in the National Football League who became a niche kick and punt returner who Steelers fans will best know for being a nemesis during his days with the Baltimore Ravens.

Among the memorable moments during Jones’ time was this return on a nationally televised Steelers-Ravens game played on Thanksgiving night, where Pittsburgh head coach Mike Tomlin “interfered” with Jones.

Having an intimate knowledge of Jones’ skills, due to seeing him at least twice a year for several seasons, Pittsburgh attempted to fix their return game woes by claiming Jacoby off waivers following his late season release from the San Diego Chargers.

Steelers fans were amped. For years, Jones had been torching the team. Now we could see what Jones could do in a black and gold jersey. As a side note, he wasn’t permitted to wear his usual number 12, which had never been reissued by the Steelers, unofficially retired since Terry Bradshaw last wore it. Instead, Jones would take the number 13 jersey vacated by the player he replaced (and whom he faces in this bracket) Dri Archer.

Unfortunately, the results of Jones joining the team were anything but dynamite. In a total of four games, Jones had six punt returns for 19 yards and nine kick returns for 220 yards. He fumbled on three of the fifteen returns, losing one.

Jones first appeared for the Steelers on November 8th, 2015, and made his last appearance on December 6th, 2015. Pittsburgh would release him on New Year’s Day 2016, two days before their final regular season game that year.

Who’s your pick?

Vote now for who you feel was more disappointing as a Steeler:

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