When the Pittsburgh Steelers overhauled their inside linebacker room during the offseason, 2022 seventh-round pick Mark Robinson may have become a bit of an afterthought. After all, the Steelers brought in Cole Holcomb, Elandon Roberts, and eventually Kwon Alexander, all players with plenty of NFL experience.
However, in Pittsburgh’s Week Three win over the Las Vegas Raiders, Robinson got his first defensive snaps of the 2023 season. When defensive coordinator Teryl Austin spoke with the media on Thursday, he talked about Robinson’s growth and future, according to a transcript provided by the Steelers.
“We think Mark is a young guy on the rise,” Austin said. “We like Mark and we felt he earned some reps, and he went in there and did a good job… I think Mark’s trending in the right direction and we’re going to keep him growing. That’s what we have to do. I think if you see a young guy that’s gaining momentum doing the right things, and you think he has a chance to be a good football player, then we have to try to give him live reps because that will only accelerate his growth.”
Robinson did not play much as a rookie, but he did show some prowess as a run defender in Pittsburgh’s second-to-last game of the season, a 16-13 win over the Baltimore Ravens. There was hope that he might build off that late-season success heading into his first full offseason as an NFL player. However, general manager Omar Khan and his staff targeted the inside linebacker depth chart as one of the primary areas for a talent infusion. Enter Holcomb, Roberts, and Alexander.
So Robinson did not see a single snap on defense through the first two weeks of the 2023 season. He did establish himself on special teams, and evidently, he caught the eyes of Austin and his staff in practice. While Robinson did not play many defensive snaps against Las Vegas, he showed the physicality and ability to stop the run that he displayed against the Ravens in 2022, getting into the mix on all four snaps against RB Josh Jacobs. For a full breakdown, check out Jonathan Heitritter’s film room on Robinson’s performance.
Four snaps are not much for the second-year linebacker, of course. However, if Austin’s words are to be trusted, we will likely see Robinson on the field more throughout the 2023 season as long as he continues to do the right things in practice each and every week.
