Exiting Tuesday, there seemed to be a bit of doom and gloom when it comes to the 2023 season and Pittsburgh Steelers second year inside linebacker Mark Robinson. After all, Steelers defensive coordinator Teryl Austin said on Tuesday that Robinson is still a work in progress, yet he added that the hope is that 2022 seventh-round draft pick out of Mississippi will be ready to compete for a starting job next season. While Austin saying that seems to be characterized as more of a negative, new Steelers inside linebackers coach Aaron Curry seemed to paint a bit more positive light on Robinson’s development to date.
“I’m excited for how he’s picking things up,” Curry said of Robinson, according to his Tuesday interview on Steelers.com. “I think he’s right on track for a year-two player. I’ve seen a handful of year-two players and I think he was right on track in regards to where he is in regards to his detail of his work, his focus on his notetaking, his trying to grasp the understanding of the full scheme. I think it’s right on course and I trust him.”
As a rookie in 2022, Robinson, who converted to linebacker at Mississippi from running back in his final 2021 college season, played all of 44 defensive snaps for the Steelers in just four different games on his way to registering eight total tackles. Thirty-seven of those 44 defensive snaps came in the Steelers’ final two regular-season games and against two teams known for running the football effectively in the Baltimore Ravens and Cleveland Browns.
In short, Robinson just didn’t see the field much during his rookie season. With him being only a one-year linebacker in college, it’s probably not a huge surprise at this point of the 2023 offseason to hear that he’s still very much in the developmental stage. That’s probably at the root of what Austin had to say about him. Curry saying that Robinson is right on course as a second-year player at least provides optimism that the young linebacker still has a nice ceiling.
So, what does 2023 hold for Robinson? Well, I think it’s obvious at this point that barring injuries at inside linebacker, the current plan — at least as we sit here in the middle of June — is for the Steelers to continue to bring Robinson along slowly. While he’s likely to get quite a bit of playing time during the preseason, we’re most likely going to see Robinson get his 2023 regular season snaps on special teams, possibly even as a core player. That’s probably not what most everyone reading this post wants to hear, but it sure seems like that’s the way things are headed for Robinson.
Obviously, we still have a long wait until the regular season gets underway, and that means a full training camp and preseason slate awaits the team. Hopefully during the remainder of the summer Robinson can continue to stay right on course and at least have the Steelers’ coaches questioning whether he deserves more than just occasional playing time during the regular season.
