The Pittsburgh Steelers went into this past offseason with a desire to, among other things, overhaul the inside linebacker position. One of the players that general manager Omar Khan brought in to do just that was ILB Elandon Roberts.
When Roberts joined former Steelers OLB Arthur Moats on an episode of The Arthur Moats Experience With Deke Podcast this week, Roberts covered a lot of topics. However, he talked about his relationship with linebackers coach Aaron Curry and how his coach has helped him continue to improve.
“No complacency in me right now,” Roberts said. “I’m trying to still get better each day. That’s why I enjoy Coach AC, because he’s pushing me better in ways that I might have not looked at, the game and stuff like that. That’s what’s good sometimes with getting around other people that have been taught in other ways because you can just put it in your game and it compliments it.”
Roberts is now in his eighth season in the NFL after spending his first four years with the New England Patriots and the last three seasons with the Miami Dolphins. He’s spent time around coaches like Bill Belichick, Matt Patricia, and Brian Flores, giving him ample time to learn from some quite good defensive minds in today’s NFL.
In Roberts’ first seven seasons, he appeared in 107 games and recorded 457 total tackles, 39 tackles for a loss, 11 sacks, 26 quarterback hits, knocked down four passes, forced four fumbles, and returned his one career interception 85 yards for a touchdown. He’s been a successful linebacker to this point.
Yet Roberts is quick to credit Curry with teaching him new things about playing linebacker as he begins his eighth season. Not only is it Roberts’ first season with the Steelers, it’s Curry’s as well. Curry spent the previous four seasons with the Seattle Seahawks, the same team that drafted him fourth overall in the 2009 NFL draft. While his playing career never lived up to his draft spot, Curry climbed the coaching ladder in his four years with Seattle.
Curry started as a defensive assistant in 2019, then got the linebackers designation added to his title for the next two seasons. Ahead of the 2022 season, he was promoted to assistant defensive line/defensive ends coach. So Curry has experience coaching multiple positions in the front seven of a defense which can give him some perspective that he evidently has passed onto Roberts.
Roberts’ play in Week Three’s win over the Cleveland Browns even garnered him some love from Good Morning Football’s Jason McCourty after flying downhill on the goal line for a big stop in the run game. Pittsburgh is going to need more of that on Sunday night when the defense faces RB Josh Jacobs and the Las Vegas Raiders. It sounds like Roberts will be ready, thanks in big part to Curry’s perspective.
You can watch the full interview between Roberts and Moats below.
