Last season, Elandon Roberts ended up as the green dot communicator for the Steelers as the team’s defensive play-caller after injuries to inside linebackers Cole Holcomb and Kwon Alexander. For Roberts though, having the role was “just one piece of the puzzle” for good communication, as in an interview earlier this week with Teresa Varley of Steelers.com, Roberts praised the collective efforts of the defense, particularly T.J. Watt, Cameron Heyward, Minkah Fitzpatrick and T.J. Watt for getting the defense ready to go.
“But, to have the collective group, T.J. (Watt), Minkah (Fitzpatrick), (Alex) Highsmith, Cam (Heyward), they made my job so much easier. I would communicate and they would communicate more. When we were off, the collective was able to calm the group back down and get us going in the right direction. I was in the middle and the green dot, but that is just one piece of the puzzle. Those guys did a great job. You just love working with guys like that because I may get the credit for it, but they are the piece of it. It was worth fighting through all of it because of them, they were a big piece of me.”
Pittsburgh dealt with some communication issues throughout last season, and with so many different green dot communicators, things could’ve fallen apart quickly for the defense. But they rallied toward the end of the season, and were able to win three straight games to close out the regular season, and it sounds like it really was a group effort to get the communication figured out and on the right page.
Roberts might end up starting the 2024 season as the green dot for Pittsburgh, as it’s a role that Patrick Queen never held during his time with the Baltimore Ravens and Holcomb may not be ready for the start of the season after his season-ending knee injury, and the Steelers likely aren’t going to entrust a rookie or another potential addition to the room with that role. It’s one that Roberts did a solid job with, and building off last year’s experience and having the defensive veterans help him out and making it a group effort, the communication across the board should hopefully improve this year.
It’s going to be interesting to see if the Steelers look to also add to the inside linebacker room through the draft, with one potential option being NC State’s Payton Wilson, but Roberts will be back and have a prominent role for the Steelers in 2024. Hopefully, the defensive communication can improve after working through last season’s struggles and Roberts could be a key part of making that happen.
