Now that training camp is here with the Pittsburgh Steelers back in Latrobe and gearing up for what they hope will be a much more productive season, it’s time to take stock of where the team stands. Specifically, where Steelers players stand individually based on what we have seen and are seeing over the course of training camp and the preseason and the regular season as it plays out. A stock evaluation can take a couple of different approaches and I’ll try to make clear my reasoning for each one. In some cases, it will be based on more long-term trends. In other instances, it will be a direct response to something that just happened. Because of this, we can and will see a player more than once over the course of the season as we move forward.
Player: ILB Mark Robinson
Stock Value: Up
Reasoning: The seventh-round inside linebacker has been drawing positive reviews through his first week of training camp, looking less raw than many might have expected, and even showing a more well-rounded game than anticipated.
Is Mark Robinson going to end up being the Steelers’ next Vince Williams? A late-round pick that they drafted in order to be able to run around and smack people, the Ole Miss product certainly possesses that ability. But like Williams, he’s showing himself to be a little more versatile than that.
If there’s any one thing people tend to know about him, it is that he is new to defense, having spent most of his football life playing running back. After transferring to Ole Miss, his coaches convinced him to move to linebacker, and he had some success there in 2021.
He put enough on tape to entice the Steelers, who as you know decided to draft him, and at least thus far, the early reviews are suggesting that it may have been a wise call. He has enough athleticism to be competitive in coverage drills, but he can still be a thumper against the run.
Naturally, we’re talking about quite a limited sample size, now just seven practices in training camp, so broad conclusions must be tamped down at this point. He hasn’t even gotten inside of a stadium yet, and the reality is that he is playing at a deep position.
While Myles Jack and Devin Bush are running as the starters, Robert Spillane has also been getting special teams work. Alex Kozora has also acknowledged a good camp thus far for veteran Ulysees Gilbert III, while second-year Buddy Johnson remains a hopeful, and Marcus Allen, currently nursing an injury, was a special teams mainstay a year ago.
The best thing Robinson can do for himself is to rack up tackles on punt and kick coverage during the preseason. It’s nice and all that he is showing that he may have some ability to be a defensive contributor down the road, but the first step is getting your foot in the door, and that door is to Danny Smith’s office.
