The pick is in. This is Kevin Colbert’s final year as the general manager, and like in past years, we want to evaluate the value of each pick. Based on projections for each player by draft outlets as well as our own reports, we want to see if the pick’s value is above or below how they were ranked coming into the draft.
Round 7 (Pick 225) – Mark Robinson, LB, Mississippi
Another player who the Steelers had pre-draft contact with becomes the first seventh-round pick. He started his collegiate career at Southwest Missouri State as a running back before transferring to Ole Miss. He had a breakout season in 2021 with 91 total tackles, 5.5 sacks for a loss, and three sacks. Unfortunately, there were not profiles done on Robinson.
Lance Zierlein of NFL.com did not have a profile on him, and listed him as “Likely Needs Time In Developmental League”.
CBS Sports likewise did not have a profile on him.
Draft Diamonds did do an interview with him where he listed five traits to describe himself as:
“Outstanding faith, my heart, my work ethic, my commitment and God fearing.” He described his energy as, “Relentless physical hard-nosed energy” and felt success on the field is found by “First of all knowing your assignment, rely ok your technique go out there and be relentless out there and stand out on film, give your best effort and show you’re a complete all-around player.”
Our report by Andrew Shaver gave him an undrafted free agent grade that can make a practice squad, and profiled him saying:
“Robinson is raw but there’s a lot to like. His tackling looks violent at times, but his demeanor is calm. While watching his game against Tennessee, there were a few instances where he was on the receiving end of some extracurricular activity after the whistle and borderline cheap shots, but there was never retaliation. Instead, he responded in the game by posting a season high 11 solo tackles, 5 TFL, and 2 sacks. Robinson earned all 70+ snaps during that game and in the 4th quarter he was still making plays and wearing out Vol lineman. Efforts in games like this one is what may have placed Robinson on the radar. His game against Alabama and how he was defending the run perhaps another. In coverage it appears he gets away with uncertainty and the NFL passing attacks will look much different than what he’s witnessed so far. For a player who switched from running over tacklers to tackling ball carriers, he looked the part and played it well at times.”
Overall, the lake of interest by other outlets to not consider him worthy of a report is a bit worrisome. The Steelers saw something they liked and I prefer to trust them in times like these, but I am going to give this pick a LOW value and wonder if he can carve out a role.
