Elandon Roberts didn’t hide from the sting of being let go by the Steelers. Instead, he answered the surprise with a pair of Instagram story posts that made his message pretty clear: keep moving.
The first was a motivational clip voiced by Mike Tyson. In it, Tyson said, "God tests you," Tyson said in the video.
"He tests you to see how much of this you can take before you say, 'Let's just be finished with this.' He wants to see how much you can take, how much you can handle.
Life is beautiful, but you have to accept the good and the bad of being beautiful."
Roberts followed that with his own line: "When you built off a legit foundation, you don't fold when the walls get dirty.. you just grab the bucket and get back to WORK!!"
His release on roster cutdown day landed as one of the biggest surprises of Pittsburgh’s trimming to 53 players. Roberts, 32, had signed a one-year deal with the Steelers just before the preseason and looked like he had done enough to stick. He was especially strong in the final two exhibition games, which made the decision even harder to see coming.
The fit made sense on paper, too. Roberts had already spent time with the Steelers in 2023 and 2024, and he also played under defensive coordinator Patrick Graham with the Las Vegas Raiders last year. That familiarity, combined with his recent form, had made him look like a safe bet for the roster.
Instead, he was the club’s most unexpected cut by a wide margin.
There’s still a chance Roberts could end up back in Pittsburgh, but as of August 30, he told DK Pittsburgh Sports’ Dejan Kovacevic that nothing had been set up on that front.
The move leaves the Steelers leaning on Patrick Queen and Payton Wilson as the starters and the clear leaders for snaps at inside linebacker, even though that group struggled more often than not last season. Roberts wouldn’t have solved every problem there, but he would have given the defense a steadier veteran presence and a physical run-stopper in the middle.
Cole Holcomb is in place as a solid No. 3 option, and Carson Bruener has shown some progress on defense, but Pittsburgh clearly chose to move on from Roberts anyway.
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