Former Rams receiver ‘showing glimmers of All-Pro talent’ at Steelers camp

When the Los Angeles Rams signed Allen Robinson to a three-year free agent contract last March, there was a lot of optimism that he’d have a career season since Matthew Stafford would be the best quarterback he had ever played with. Optimism that only got stronger after a training camp in which Robinson often dominated articles about “standouts” for the day. The Rams traded Robinson to the Pittsburgh Steelers after those narratives turned out to be false hope, but it seems that he’s once again the star of training camp for a new team.

In the first week of Steelers training camp, Allen Robinson has shown to have a strong connection with quarterback Kenny Pickett and some who follow Pittsburgh are seeing ‘All-Pro talent’ like he had in short spurts with the Jaguars and Bears.

The Rams are paying $21.45 million in dead money to not have Robinson this year.

Robinson has a history of showing out and then falling off and then showing out again.

He had 1,400 yards in his second NFL season when he played for Jacksonville in 2015. The next year, he dropped down to 883 yards despite getting the same number of targets, and then he missed virtually all of the following season. He returned in 2018 with the Chicago Bears and had 754 yards, but then followed it up with 98 catches for 1,147 yards and then a career-best 102 catches for 1,250 yards. Robinson’s production crumbled again, posting 410 yards in 12 games in 2021, but this didn’t stop Les Snead from giving him a three-year, $54 million contract to replace Robert Woods and Odell Beckham Jr. in some capacity.

Robinson starred in training camp with the Rams in 2022, but finished with 33 catches for 339 yards in 10 games and really didn’t once show up in the regular season like he did in practice. The L.A. Rams got a seventh round pick swap for the right to put him on the Steelers and his cap hit in Pittsburgh is just $3.08 million.

He is expected to be the Steelers starting slot receiver in between Diontae Johnson and George Pickens. Robinson is rooming with Pickens at camp and taking on the role of mentor to Pittsburgh’s second-year standout.

The Rams play the Steelers in Week 7.