Hop aboard the Pittsburgh Steelers’ inside linebacker carousel. Where it stops, nobody knows. For DC Teryl Austin, it’s a ride he hopes he can hop off. The inside linebacker room has been mangled by injuries this year, losing Cole Holcomb and Kwon Alexander for the season in back-to-back weeks. Most recently, Elandon Roberts has battled a groin injury, toughing things out in last Thursday’s loss to the New England Patriots, incredibly playing (and playing well) on a short week.
In their place has been a rag-tag group of young names and veterans. Mark Robinson, Mykal Walker, Blake Martinez, and potentially Myles Jack, who is still on the team’s practice squad. While Robinson is the most intriguing player, a second-year run-and-thump type of linebacker who seemingly fits the mold of what Pittsburgh’s looking for, Austin explained why he’s still hardly seeing the field.
“Mark knows what he has to do,” Austin told reporters via team-provided audio. “He’s been working in that regard. He’s earning the trust here in terms of being out on the field. He’s doing the things he has to do. I don’t think there’s anything one specific thing he has to do. But he’s doing the things to earn the trust of his teammates and us that we could put him on the field. And feel good and confident about what he was doing. And that’s why he got some play last week.”
Even before the season began, Austin made it clear that Robinson has a long way to go. And despite the team’s injuries, the Steelers have explored just about every other option besides Robinson. Despite having been with the team for only weeks, Walker got the green dot and the reps ahead of Robinson.
And in last Thursday’s loss to the Patriots, the newly signed Martinez got burn in the team’s base 3-4 defense, logging more than triple the snaps Robinson received, 22 to six. All Robinson received were a handful of first-quarter snaps, mostly in the team’s “big nickel” package that features three safeties, before playing only on special teams the rest of the game. A young player without a ton of experience at the position, a running back for most of his college career, Robinson is still learning the defense and certainly isn’t in a position to call it. Thus, other guys are playing.
Still adjusting to the new faces, Austin said the rotation will continue to be tweaked in order to put the linebackers in the best positions possible.
“We’ll continue to try to use guys and do some things that they’re better at. So that will probably involve some rotation and some different roles for guys.”
What exactly that looks like, Austin wasn’t telling. There’s no question it’s a difficult hand to play, trying to turn 7-2 off-suit into the winning cards. But, as Austin told reporters last week, no NFL team feels sorry for another this time of year. They all have injuries, they all have problems. Results are all that matter.
