Last season for the Pittsburgh Steelers, the inside linebacker position reached a dire situation with season-ending injuries in back-to-back weeks to Cole Holcomb and Kwon Alexander. Then Elandon Roberts battled through some injuries, which forced him to miss a game. At the time, Mike Tomlin compared it to losing the quarterback of the defense.
Inside linebackers wear many hats, but one of their primary responsibilities being in the center of the defense is taking calls from the sideline and communicating to the rest of the team to make sure everybody is on the same page.
So far in the 2024 free agency legal tampering window, the Steelers have upgraded both the offensive and defensive quarterback with Russell Wilson and Patrick Queen.