Pittsburgh Steelers: Top 10 linebackers in franchise history

8. Jason Gildon (1994-2003)

Sacks didn’t become an official stat until 1982, which has made it easier to look back and track the importance and performance of players who were active after that time. Jason Gildon is one of those players. He entered the league in 1994 when the Steelers drafted him in the third round with the 88th overall pick. Gildon went on to spend 10 of his 11 seasons with the organization.

While he appeared in all 32 games through his first two seasons, Gildon didn’t become a starter until his third year in the league. That year was 1996, and Gildon posted seven sacks on his way to solidifying the starting job. He had the first of three seasons with 10 or more sacks in 1998 when he posted 11. He added 13.5 in 2000 and 12 more in 2001.

Gildon’s success was recognized late in his career. He made the first of three consecutive Pro Bowl appearances in 2000. In 2001, he was selected as a First Team All-Pro. It was the only All-Pro selection of his career. Following his final Pro Bowl season in 2002, Gildon’s sack production declined. 2003 was his final year with the Steelers and Gildon spent his final season playing with the Jacksonville Jaguars before retiring at age 32.

In the end, Gildon finished with 77 sacks as a Steeler to go along with 181 official tackles (there were hundreds that went unrecorded), two interceptions, 10 fumble recoveries and seven official forced fumbles. Again, there were definitely more forced fumbles, but they weren’t official until 2001.

Pro Football Reference credits Gildon with 497 combined tackles, 15 forced fumbles and three defensive touchdowns as a Steeler. While those numbers can’t be taken as exact, they give a good rough estimate as to where Gildon finished.

When he left the team following 2003, Gildon held the franchise record for sacks. The mark was later broken by a more recent linebacker who’ll you see further down the list.