The Pittsburgh Steelers have nearly overhauled their entire inside linebacker room this offseason. And they don’t intend to keep their new additions glued to the bench. With the signings of Cole Holcomb, Elandon Roberts, and the summer addition of Kwon Alexander, Mike Tomlin believes in his new-look group.
Speaking to reporters during his Tuesday press conference, Tomlin evaluated the performance of his top three at the position.
“All three are Varsity, and that’s good,” he said via the team’s YouTube channel. “They have varying skillsets. And I think in today’s matchup football game, that’s going to be helpful to us.”
Holcomb was signed to the longest deal, a three-year pact that hopefully sees him playing in all situations. Fully recovered from a foot injury last year with Washington, the team limited his practice reps during spring OTAs. But he had no restrictions in training camp and was highly productive, impressing with his run defense, coverage, and blitzing in backs on ‘backers drills.
Wednesday, Josh Carney broke down Holcomb’s film from Saturday’s game against the Buffalo Bills, highlighting his well-rounded game.
Roberts is an old-school thumper who aggressively attacks the run, a far different mindset than the starters had last season. He excelled in backs on ‘backers, running over backup running backs like John Lovett, and plays with a demeanor that matches the franchise’s hard-nosed foundation.
Alexander was the most recent signing, visiting the team in May but leaving without a deal, and signing partway into camp. Though a late addition, he’s made an immediate impact as a tone-setter in that room with his intensity, run defense, and leadership. Overall, there’s much more of an attitude in the best possible way at that position group.
All three players should log defensive snaps this season but it’s far from new for the Steelers to make use of more than two inside linebackers. It’s something Tomlin has been doing from the jump when he used his first-ever draft pick on Lawrence Timmons while he still had James Farrior and Larry Foote roaming the middle of the defense. After Foote departed in free agency and returned, Tomlin then used him to rotate with Farrior at the end of the latter’s career. A short time after that, he made use of Terence Garvin as a coverage option. More recently, Robert Spillane received significant work as a co-starter with Devin Bush and Joe Schobert, then Myles Jack.
Now, it appears Holcomb, Roberts, and Alexander will rotate with each other. There’s even second-year linebacker Mark Robinson who is having a fine preseason. He could try to carve out a niche role in special run defense packages like he did as a rookie, out-snapping Bush by season’s end.
It may only be the preseason but based on early returns, the Steelers have upgraded the position group. Playing inside linebacker in Pittsburgh’s system is a demanding job and instead of putting it on two player’s plate, Tomlin is set to spread it out over three.
