I’m really not sure how much of a plan there was, or exactly when it came together. The only thing I know for sure is that the Pittsburgh Steelers were not at all happy with the performance of their inside linebacker room—last season, or really for the past several seasons.
And so they decided to turn the room over. They released Myles Jack, whom they had signed to a two-year, $16 million contract only a year earlier. They allowed both Robert Spillane and Devin Bush to walk in free agency, with no indications of putting up a fight. And Marcus Allen is gone as well. The only returning linebacker is 2022 seventh-rounder Mark Robinson, who has hardly played.
They went out in free agency to find their answers in Elandon Roberts and Cole Holcomb, and then circled back on the eve of training camp to add Kwon Alexander, a veteran with whom they had already been in contact. Slowly but surely, the room is coming together.
“I think they’re getting better every week, and I thought last week was probably their best week together”, defensive coordinator Teryl Austin said of the trio yesterday, via the team’s website. “You felt them, they were physical and fast, they made some splash plays, they were all over the field as a unit. That’s really what we envisioned when we got those three guys, that all three of them would do a great job for us in their particular roles. I thought last week was a sign of that growth”.
Loosely formulated, Holcomb, the most athletic of the trio, functions as the closest thing to an every-down backer, averaging about 85 percent of the snaps per week. There is a balance between the roles of Alexander and Roberts, with the former beginning to play a little more than the latter.
While each of them individually has their warts, the group has certainly been making more plays than crews of the very recent past. They already have a combined 10 tackles for loss, for example, with a sack, two forced fumbles, and two passes defensed.
Against the Ravens, Holcomb had a team-high nine tackles with one for loss and a pass defensed and a quarterback hit. Roberts had eight tackles, while Alexander had six, including a sack and two additional tackles for loss.
There are issues, make no mistake. The coverage work has not been consistently good, though not poor either. The tackling has largely been average to slightly above average, with a typical percentage of missed tackles mixed in with significant plays.
None of them will be confused with Fred Warner, or even Lawrence Timmons, but this is about as good a group at linebacker the team has had since the moment Ryan Shazier was injured. And that’s not an insignificant thing considering this unit was built over the course of a single offseason.
With that being said, it would be wise to invest high in the draft at the position to find a long-term answer. Both Roberts and Alexander will be 30 years old in 2024. Holcomb could have a lengthier future in Pittsburgh, but he is not the kind of player that you sit content with and pass over opportunities to upgrade.
