With the Pittsburgh Steelers on a break before heading to Latrobe for training camp, we’re going to take a look at our expectations for this upcoming season and offer some over/under statistics to weigh in on. The offense wasn’t overly prolific last year, but the defense did put up some big numbers.
That can change in 2023 now that the offense is beginning to mature around second-year quarterback Kenny Pickett, though, and if the Steelers can keep T.J. Watt healthy all year, that will only help everybody be more productive—perhaps especially the defensive backs. So each day we’ll project one stat line, whether for a player or a unit, and share our thoughts before asking you to weigh in on whether you think they will hit the over or the under.
It is your job to project whether or not the over or under will be hit. At the end of the series we will be tallying up the answers for each installment to create a collective pre-training camp snapshot of where you stand heading into the 2023 season.
Stat Line: Five starts for Mark Robinson (defined as being one of the first two inside linebackers on the field and playing 50 percent or more of the snaps)
Here’s an interesting one, I think. While Mark Robinson is not projected to be a starter at inside linebacker this year, plans can change based on who is playing well at any given time. And injuries are always a factor as well. After all, he made two starts last year and was barely done playing running back.
While it should be noted that defensive coordinator Teryl Austin basically said he thought Robinson might eventually be able to compete for a starting job in 2024—and note that this is currently 2023—we shouldn’t dismiss out of hand the possibility of him earning a starting role. Either during training camp or at some other point along the way.
Cole Holcomb, for one, has an injury history, and in fact is coming off an injury. He wasn’t even participating fully during OTAs, so we can’t take it for a given that he’s going to be a 17-game starter. And Elandon Roberts is a two-down linebacker. Robinson is more athletic. You see where this is going.
On the other hand, while he did play as a rookie last year, he also very much looked like a rookie inside linebacker who was more familiar playing running back than he was linebacker. He would have to take a pretty significant step forward from last season to put himself in that discussion.
Right now, we don’t even know if Robinson would be the next man up in the event of injuries. The team just signed Nick Kwiatkoski, who does have over 2,000 defensive snaps and 34 starts in his career, even if he has primarily been a special teamer the past two years.
So what do you think? Taking these factors and others into consideration, are you taking the over or under on five starts for Mark Robinson? Answer below and at the end of the series we’ll tally all your answers together to see where you stand before we get to training camp.
