Compare the Pittsburgh Steelers’ roster at the inside linebacker position from the 2022 season to now and, were it not for the inclusion of former seventh-round pick Mark Robinson, you might wonder if you’d accidentally viewed the roster of the wrong team.
It’s otherwise entirely different, with Devin Bush and Robert Spillane both allowed to sign elsewhere, Myles Jack a salary cap casualty, and Marcus Allen not retained and still unsigned. Robinson, going into year two, is hoping to step into those gaps.
“Just playing hard every day”, he told College2Pro.com’s Bo Marchionte about his goal for the 2023 season. “Just being back in here and looking forward to year two man. I’m ready to get it done. Looking to carve out a great role doing whatever it takes. I’m all in”.
Though the Steelers have added a handful of experienced veterans to the room this offseason, most notably Cole Holcomb and Elandon Roberts, one gets the sense that the team is also cautiously optimistic about the potential for Robinson to emerge as a player.
They got just a sampling of that toward the end of last season with Robinson getting the opportunity to log a few dozen defensive snaps over the final two games. He played 26 snaps in week 17 against the Baltimore Ravens, registering seven tackles, adding another two tackles in 11 snaps in the finale against the Cleveland Browns.
And so he already has some divisional play under his belt, against two running teams, so that’s not a bad start. At least, they were running teams at the time, though ostensibly both Baltimore and Cleveland will be wanting to throw the ball more with two of the most expensive quarterbacks in the game.
That might be a problem for Robinson, who at this point in time is clearly a downhill linebacker. While he is not lacking the athleticism necessary to work competently in zone coverages, he is still very raw in his craft and has a lot to learn about how to play, not to mention the reps required to gain the requisite experience to apply the fundamentals in a game comfortably and consistently.
But would the Steelers really balk at the option of starting Robinson over Roberts this season if the second-year linebacker had a really strong and promising offseason? Chances are both of them are going to spend a lot of time on the sidelines in obvious passing situations anyway.
That is another important aspect to consider in this equation, because we should expect to see the likes of any number of defensive backs on the field in dime packages this year, whether it’s Damontae Kazee or Keanu Neal, Tre Norwood or Chandon Sullivan, James Pierre or Duke Dawson.
