Jerry Olsavsky, the Steelers inside linebacker coach, takes one look at rookie Tyler Matakevich and sees another late-round NFL draft choice who was smart, instinctive, not overly fast, but almost always in the right place to make a tackle or disrupt the play.
That player was Jerry Olsavsky.
Olsavsky was a 10th-round draft choice by the Steelers in 1989, the 258th player selected overall, because NFL scouts thought was too small and too slow to play effectively at the next level. All he did after leaving Pitt was spend 10 years in the league, nine with the Steelers.
Matakevich is not much different. He was the Steelers’ final pick in the seventh round in April, drafted just 12 overall spots ahead of Olsavsky at No. 246. Even though he was the first Temple defensive player to be named first-team All-America and won the Bednarik Award and Bronko Nagurski Trophy as the nation’s most outstanding defensive player, he was considered too small (6 feet, 235 pounds) and too slow (4.76 seconds in the 40) to be an effective inside backer in the NFL.
The Steelers and Olsavsky in particular don’t care.
“If you know you’re a good player, if you grew up playing football and you know it, then you have no problem,” Olsavsky said. “That’s was my case. I got here and I was like, OK, you have a couple bad practices and then you say, wait a minute, I think I can play up here. And next thing you know you’re in the league for a long time. Having the benefit of having gone through that, I try to tell Tyler that.”
Matakevich is opening the eyes of all the Steelers coaches after two impressive preseason outings. He had five tackles, including one for a loss, against the Philadelphia Eagles, and also has two tackles on special teams. More important, he is showing what he displayed at Temple where he set a school record with 493 tackles — he always seems to be in the right position to make a play, despite his lack of physical measurables.
In a game where speed and athleticism are valued by coaches and general managers, Matakevich is an anomaly, even a throwback, by current defensive standards. He is one of those players who just won’t go away. Kind of like his position coach.
“He tells me just don’t worry about it,” Matakevich said. “He was in a very, very, very similar position as me. He just tells me, ‘You’re here for a reason, you can play with these guys, it’s just football, just play fast whatever you’re doing.’ So that’s what I’ve been trying to do — understand what’s going on but just play fast.”
Still, there was some element of doubt when Matakevich arrived with the Steelers and saw two former No. 1 picks at his position — Ryan Shazier and Lawrence Timmons — and a couple of more at outside linebacker, Bud Dupree and Jarvis Jones. Not to mention James Harrison.
“When you first get here, it’s definitely overwhelming,” Matakevich said. “You see all these guys, I’m out here with Shazier and Timmons, you literally just take a deep breath and say, hey, I’m just playing football, just do what you’ve been doing your whole life. That’s something [Olsavsky] has been helping me out with.”
The Steelers began last season with five inside linebackers on their 53-man roster and finished the postseason with six after adding L.J. Fort in late December. But Sean Spence (Tennessee) and Terence Garvin (Washington) left in free agency, creating two open spots on the inside. The Steelers added five-year veteran Steven Johnson (Tennessee) in free agency, but Matakevich and Fort have been the preseason standouts.
That could be three players competing for two spots behind Shazier and Timmons and backup Vince Williams.
“Inside linebacker isn’t as prevalent as much as he used to be — a good, tough guy who can play football,” Olsavsky said. “That’s just how the game is. It’s a speed game. But I don’t care what you run, I don’t care what I ran. I never felt outmatched on the field because I know where I had to be and when I had to be there. If someone breaks outside, then I couldn’t catch a guy. But you turn him into me, I’m catching him every time. That’s how Tyler is.”
Olsavsky grades his inside linebackers in five areas — athleticism, speed, toughness, knowledge and instinct. A player such as Shazier, a No. 1 draft choice who runs a sub-4.4, likely grades high in all areas. Matekevich might not get an ‘A’ in athleticism and speed, but he is off the charts in the other three areas.
“That’s what we like, we’re after football players,” Olsavsky said. “The guys like him. They recognize he has talent. It’s good for me, it’s good for the team because he kind of gets what’s going on.”
It all sounds familiar to Olsavsky.
Gerry Dulac: gdulac@post-gazette.com and Twitter @gerrydulac.
First Published: August 24, 2016, 1:30 p.m.