There are a number of players on the Pittsburgh Steelers’ roster this offseason who are still working themselves back into football shape, back to 100 percent. That includes 2022 draft pick Calvin Austin III, but also a pair of offseason acquisitions in linebacker Cole Holcomb and wide receiver Allen Robinson II.
The Steelers traded for Robinson in March, and they didn’t have to give up much to get him. Part of the reason is because of the injury, but also because the Los Angeles Rams wanted to get out of his contract, enough that they were willing to take some of it on. Robinson even waived a 2024 roster bonus to help facilitate the deal getting done.
But while the deal went through to completion, there’s still a lot of work for him to do before he gets back to where he wants to be. While he’s talked about being healthy now, he understands that the next step is getting football ready, and he’s already working toward that.
“Where I’m at right now, just recently getting back on the field the last few weeks, I’ve got a lot of stuff to do”, he told Joe Rutter of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. “I’ll be improving my body by getting out there and training and working with different people to get back to my (old) self. I have a lot of stuff planned”.
One of the people he’s working with happens to be quarterback Kenny Pickett, which is taking place right now. Pickett’s personal quarterback coach posted a short video to social media on Thursday showing the two of them running drills out in New Jersey, where Pickett has retreated during the break as he prepares for his wedding.
A second-round draft pick out of Penn State in 2012, Robinson hasn’t had a full, productive season since 2020, the last time that he played with a quarterback who was both healthy and a competent passer, and that was Mitch Trubisky with the Chicago Bears. He caught 102 passes for 1250 yards that year.
Since then, it’s been a struggle through injury and unremarkable quarterback play. He weathered the growing pains of a rookie, run-first Justin Fields in Chicago in 2021, missing five games himself. Last year, with Matthew Stafford in Los Angeles unable to throw during the offseason, he struggled to build a rapport with Robinson, and just as that was beginning to turn the corner, the receiver suffered a season-ending foot injury.
The Steelers hope to finally have the answer to get him back to what he was before the recent string of misfortunes, including Pickett as a part of the solution. But the other key part of that is being healthy. While he’s had some injuries in the past, nothing explicitly points to chronic issues, and he’s still 29, so one can only hope he can stay on the field this year, and if he does, he should be able to stay productive as well.
