Pittsburgh Steelers Exit Meeting: ILB Mark Robinson
Experience: 4 Years
The Steelers took a flyer on Mark Robinson in 2022, a former running back turned wrecking ball. While a hard hitter, the inside linebacker has carved out a special-teams niche, but little else. They didn’t count on him developing into a starter, of course, and have maneuvered accordingly.
One wonders, however, if they haven’t maneuvered one step too many. On Monday, they reportedly agreed to terms with former Ravens ILB Malik Harrison. Harrison himself is a standout special teams player, but with much higher defensive upside. He has logged over 1,000 defensive snaps, including 34 starts, while working within a rotation. By comparison, Mark Robinson has 203 defensive snaps, albeit in 60 percent of the career length.
The Steelers have Patrick Queen and Payton Wilson at the top of their inside linebacker room, along with Cole Holcomb and Robinson. Adding Harrison presumably led to the Steelers allowing Elandon Roberts to walk. Since they asked Holcomb to take a substantial pay cut, the assumption is that they mean to keep him.
And to be clear, it is common for the team to retain five inside linebackers on the roster. With Harrison and Robinson both prolific special teamers, it actually makes more sense for the Steelers to carry five. But there is always the possibility that the one cancels the other out, depending on roster needs come September. And Holcomb shouldn’t count his roster spot as being etched in stone.
As far as Mark Robinson actually goes, well, he has spent his three-year Steelers career developing into a special teams player, primarily. He has logged over 600 special teams snaps over the past two seasons after playing just 16 as a rookie. But he also played a career-low eight defensive snaps last year.
And frankly, the Steelers only putting Robinson on the field for 151 defensive snaps in 2023 was alarming. They had a series of cataclysmic injuries at the position that year, including Holcomb, yet turned to street pick-ups. By the end of the year, they had even re-signed Myles Jack and were playing Mykal Walker.
In other words, if the Steelers retain Robinson in 2025, it will be purely for special teams purposes. They are currently projected to have four inside linebackers on the roster, provided the Harrison signing is made official on Wednesday, that they would rather put on the field before him. For that fact alone, his future with the Steelers is at least in question.
The Pittsburgh Steelers find themselves at home, the inevitable result of another early playoff exit. This is a repeated pattern for the organization, with no clear end in sight. As the Steelers conduct their own exit meetings, we will go down the roster conducting our own. Who should stay, and who should go, and how? Who should expect a bigger role next season, and who might deserve a new contract? We’ll explore those questions and more in these articles, part of an annual series.
