Unfortunately for the Pittsburgh Steelers, they lost their top two inside linebackers to season-ending injuries these last two weeks in Cole Holcomb and Kwon Alexander. While that is devastating news for the Steelers, there’s potentially some good that comes from those two injuries.
With Holcomb and Alexander now on the Reserve/Injured list, the Steelers should be able to get a half-season look at several young inside linebackers on their team in Mark Robinson, Mykal Walker, and perhaps even Tariq Carpenter. Currently, Walker and Carpenter both reside on the team’s practice squad but that figures to change by the end of the week.
While Robinson, a 2022 seventh-round draft pick out of Mississippi is now in his second season, he’s only played 89 total defensive snaps to date with 41 of those coming in Week 10 after Alexander went down. He should benefit the most of the three younger inside linebackers on the team moving forward as a complement to veteran starter veteran Elandon Roberts. In short, the Steelers should have a good idea of what Robinson’s potential ceiling and floor is after the 2023 season.
As for the other young inside linebackers that figure to see some playing time moving forward, Walker is the more experienced of the two. He’s logged 1,347 NFL snaps on defense to date after entering the league in 2020 as fourth-round draft pick of the Atlanta Falcons. He has 20 NFL starts under his belt as well. He isn’t likely to play as much as Robinson, barring more injuries at the inside linebacker position, but even so, it’s hard to imagine him not seeing the field at all in the final eight regular-season games.
When comes to Carpenter, he’s still a really raw piece of clay, especially when it comes to the linebacker position. Carpenter entered the NFL as a safety out of Georgia Tech and the former seventh-round pick of the Green Bay Packers moved to inside linebacker with them this past offseason. It might take some extreme circumstances for Carpenter to see any defensive snaps moving forward, but it’s not out of the question just the same. After all, he is likely considered the fourth option on the depth chart right now.
Why is it a bit of a boon that the Steelers now have a half-season ahead of them to look at these younger inside linebackers? For starters, if any of the three emerge as capable starter or backup options to close out 2023, it could result in the Steelers pushing the need to draft another inside linebacker down the 2024 want list, or maybe even off it entirely.
As things stand right now, Holcomb and Roberts are both under contract for the 2024 season with the former now having to recover from a serious knee injury. Roberts, on the other hand, will turn 30 in April and he’s more of a downhill inside linebacker who is best used against the run. As for Alexander, he’s not under contract for the 2024 season and on top of that, he has a long injury recovery ahead of him after suffering the second Achilles tear of his NFL career. In short, there’s a decent chance Alexander has played his last snap with the Steelers.
Robinson is still on his rookie contract, so he’ll be back in 2024. As for Walker, he could wind up being an unrestricted free agent after this season if signed to just a one-year contract from the team’s practice squad. Even so, he should want to return in 2024 if things go well for him the rest of this season. The same goes for Carpenter, who at worst, will be an exclusive rights free agent after this season.
Back in 2020, Robert Spillane was in a similar situation as Robinson, Walker, and Carpenter are in now. He made his way from the Steelers practice squad and ultimately became a starter after fellow inside linebacker Devin Bush went down that season with a serious knee injury. Up until Bush’s injury, Spillane had played nine total NFL snaps on defense. He went on to start several more games for the Steelers and is now a starter for the Las Vegas Raiders. In fact, Spillane was named the AFC Defensive Player of Week 10 on Tuesday.
Now, I’m not going to sit here and predict that any of Robinson, Walker or Carpenter will duplicate what Spillane did several years ago. But with that said, at least the Steelers will now have an opportunity to get extended looks at the three of them the remainder of this season. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, especially if the team manages to keep winning and ultimately makes the playoffs. And if things go well along the way, the need to draft an inside linebacker in 2024 might just vanish completely for the Steelers.
Stay tuned.
