Kwon Alexander stood at his locker opening a package and then pulled a large black speaker out of the cardboard box. He found the nearest outlet and plugged it in.
“We’re just trying to change it around, get everybody going,” Alexander said Monday after practice. “I’m just trying to find new ways to get us a spark so we can start fast.”
The sound is nice, but the Steelers inside linebackers might finally be bringing the fury. Alexander, Cole Holcomb and Elandon Roberts are a veteran trio coming off their best game together in the 17-10 upset of the Ravens before the off week.
It’s hard to keep track of how many retread and homegrown off-ball linebackers have disappointed for the Steelers in recent years, so general manager Omar Khan set out to flip the unit this offseason. With a combined 23 tackles, four tackles for loss, two quarterback hits, one sack and one pass breakup in that win against Baltimore, the new guys are flipping the narrative.
“They all bring their own juice,” defensive tackle Montravius Adams said. “It’s contagious. They aren’t the crazy-big or crazy-fast prototypes, but what they do, they do it well and they do it hard. That’s all you can ask for.”
No different than the past few years, for the 2023 Steelers to be a legitimate contender, they need their defense to be elite. For the defense to be elite, the inside linebacker play can’t be subpar.
That was the case last season, especially, when the rotation of Myles Jack, Robert Spillane and Devin Bush failed to record a takeaway and had just one sack, by Spillane. Already, Holcomb has two forced fumbles, one of which was recovered by Damontae Kazee as they came back to beat the Browns.
“I think they understand the standard is that they execute their job first,” said the other new face in the bunch, first-year linebackers coach Aaron Curry. “Splash plays come from great effort. They don't come from playing outside the scheme.”
Nonetheless, playmaking has been an emphasis. In Curry’s meeting room, there’s a photo on the wall of Holcomb’s punch-out against the Browns. Alexander and Roberts hope to get their pictures up there soon.
You could say that visual motivation is low-hanging fruit to try to bring a group together, but it’s just one of many layers to a crew that seems to have the right disposition to be Steelers linebackers.
Alexander’s got his speaker ready to crank in the locker room. He also wore a Jack Lambert throwback jersey to the season opener. And they all have different handshakes with each other, such as Alexander and Holcomb doing the “can’t see me” motion made famous by pro wrestler John Cena when one of them makes a big tackle.
“I feel like once you get a handshake with someone, it’s chemistry,” Alexander explained. “Once they make a play, it’s not just [nod your head] — it’s a connection. It’s, ‘Oh, let me go do my handshake with him.’”
The handshakes are throughout the defense, but specifically within the linebackers, their personalities and play styles appear to be meshing more by the week. It wasn’t a great start to the season, what with the 49ers, Browns and Texans running wild at times.
Those issues weren't for lack of want-to, though. All three have earned their reputations in the NFL as players who seek contact, but Holcomb acknowledged that communication and understanding how they each play the position were a work in progress early.
“We’re gonna put our faces on you,” Holcomb said. “We’re not afraid to step in there and put some pads on people.”
And teammates have noticed. Kazee, who typically plays in the deepest part of the field, joked that he feels like he’s just hanging out back there on most plays because the ball carrier rarely gets to him. According to Adams, “they love to hit people,” and as Alexander walked past him to hit the showers, Adams called him a “kamikaze.”
Through five games, Holcomb has played the most snaps, as expected (84.5%). Alexander is next in the rotation (55.4%) followed by Roberts (39.1%). Holcomb was signed to be the every-down option, Roberts is something of a specialist against the run, and Alexander has been capable of playing in all situations. Roberts has his own breakdown of what each player brings.
“Kwon’s more of the energetic one. He’s gonna get it going,” Roberts said. “I’m one of those ones who’s gonna come up to you, talk [expletive], hit you in your mouth and walk away and not say another word to you. And Cole, he’s like that Swiss Army knife. He’ll stop and get the defense set while we’re still over there [trash-talking].”
Other than Spillane meeting Derrick Henry head-on at the goal line in 2020, there haven’t been many marquee moments to point to with Steelers linebackers the past five years. Vince Williams left the team in 2021 and a sense of leadership — not to mention a certain old-school physicality — left with him.
For all his athleticism and nose for the ball, Ryan Shazier also had a swagger about him. His shirtless pregame walks in freezing temperatures were the stuff of legend.
When Roberts was in New England, he was part of a linebacker corps that went by “The Boogeymen” in 2019 after Jets quarterback Sam Darnold admitted to “seeing ghosts” in a 33-0 loss to those Patriots. No one should be ready to put Holcomb, Alexander and Roberts in the pantheon of Steelers linebackers or even bestow upon them a special nickname just yet, but it’s clear they’re having fun and channeling the spirit of playing this position in Pittsburgh. They all put it in their own way, too.
“As a group, we’ve really tried to bring that back,” said the ever-stoic Holcomb. “That mentality and that respect for the inside linebackers here.”
“That’s the mindset you’ve got to have to be legendary and just be a linebacker,” said the excitable Alexander. “Anything else, you’re getting merc’d.”
“Until we start stacking like we should be stacking, we’re not rubbing our backs at all,” said the smooth-talking Roberts. “We wanna keep it going.”
Brian Batko: bbatko@post-gazette.com and Twitter @BrianBatko.
First Published: October 22, 2023, 9:30 a.m.
