Veteran ILB Elandon Roberts played all of two snaps in his Pittsburgh Steelers debut. But he was out there with the starters, and he made the most of the work he did get, including one great run fill in which he blew up the gap and pushed the lineman into the ball-carrier.
Still, two snaps hardly seem worth getting out of bed for. Not the case for Roberts, who has expressed his enthusiasm for being a member of the Steelers since signing. “Honestly, coming into the game, it just felt real good to be in a Pittsburgh uniform”, he said from the locker room, via the team’s website. “I’m just being very honest with you. Putting the jersey on today felt real good”.
He was just one of a number of veteran players putting on the Black and Gold inside of a stadium for the first time, including fellow inside linebackers Cole Holcomb, Kwon Alexander, Tanner Muse, and Nick Kwiatkoski. That’s not to mention S Kenny Robinson, DL Breiden Fehoko and Armon Watts, CBs Patrick Peterson and Chandon Sullivan…the list goes on.
I’m sure not all of them had the same reaction to joining Pittsburgh, though in truth, several of them did. Guys like Peterson and Fehoko in particular have spoken about their prior affinity for the Steelers, in the case of the former there being a family tie with former Steelers CB Bryant McFadden being his cousin.
It’s nice and all to get to debut as a Steeler, of course, but there’s also a matter of business, even without much work on the field. Despite his highly abbreviated playing time, Roberts found ways to remain active throughout the night.
“It was basically trying to get into game mode from a study standpoint, an adjustment standpoint”, he said. “When I wasn’t in, I was able to go to the sideline, get with the linebackers, get with the defense, see what type of adjustments that we’re making, staying engaged in the game”.
Roberts is still projected to be one of the two starting linebackers when the regular season opens, along with Holcomb, though now he has another veteran in Alexander breathing down his neck. He only just signed a short time ago, but he is the most experienced player in that room with over 5,000 NFL defensive snaps under his belt. And he brought the boom stick along with him, which is also Roberts’ calling card.
My guess is that they manage to find work for everybody. The Steelers not been shy about rotating players at inside linebacker lately, with Robert Spillane often functioning as that third starter, at least before they cleared out nearly the entire room this offseason.
Roberts is a part of that new look, a more physical, imposing group, and a group that also really seems to love to be here on this team and with this staff, playing in this system that allows them to play the way they want to play. Even if for just two snaps.
