First Call: Where Steelers rank on Forbes NFL franchise value list; ILB Mark Robinson signs with future AFC foe

Friday’s “First Call” has the latest Forbes.com rankings of NFL team value. We’ll find out where the Steelers sit.

Mark Robinson signs in the AFC East. Some notes and video from Kyle Schwarber’s four-homer night for the Phillies. The Pirates will be part of a very interesting night at Fenway Park.

And Robert Morris women’s soccer wraps up its season-opening homestand in style.

New start in New England

Ex-Steeler Mark Robinson has signed with an AFC rival. The linebacker is heading to New England.

The Patriots signed him to join their practice squad. It’ll be interesting to see if former Steeler Mike Vrabel, who is now the head coach with the Pats, can polish whatever rough edges the Steelers could never figure out with Robinson. New England visits Acrisure Stadium in Week 3.

Robinson was a seventh-round pick out of Ole Miss in 2022. The converted running back ended up with 38 games played (four starts), 45 tackles and a sack during that time in Pittsburgh.

A see-and-hit, run-stopping ILB, Robinson also added 619 special teams snaps. But he could never quite figure out the coverage aspect of the game and wasn’t trusted by the coaching staff as much of a processor of the defense.

Money matters

The annual Forbes.com NFL franchise valuation list is out. The Steelers rank exactly where they did a year ago.

Forbes.com says the Steelers rank 17th in the NFL at $6.5 billion. That’s a 23% increase from $5.3 billion a year ago. Only $300 million separates the Steelers from Denver in 13th place at $6.8 billion.

Seattle ($6.7 billion), Green Bay ($6.65 billion) and Tampa Bay ($6.6 billion) are all tightly packed in between.

The Dallas Cowboys are worth the most at $13 billion. If you want a comp, Dallas’ operating income is $629 million. Pittsburgh’s is $137 million.

The Cincinnati Bengals have the lowest valuation at $5.25 billion. But this is the first time all 32 teams have been worth at least $5 billion.

Related

• Pitt hopes to use Saturday's matchup with Duquesne to test depth
• With Alex Highsmith, Nick Herbig ailing, Steelers' depth at OLB might get tested early on
• Braxton Ashcraft battles, but Cardinals pull away from Pirates with 3-run 7th to split series

King Kyle

Philadelphia’s Kyle Schwarber hit four home runs en route to a 19-4 blowout of Atlanta Thursday night.

It’s just the 21st time in Major League Baseball history that a player has hit four homers in a game. There have only been 24 perfect games on the mound by comparison.

The Talkin’ Baseball feed on X put up a montage of all four of Schwarber’s bombs.

All four of Kyle Schwarber's historic home runs pic.twitter.com/tyudktkROA

— Talkin’ Baseball (@TalkinBaseball_) August 29, 2025

Schwarber’s explosion snapped a 0 for 20 slide. He now has 49 homers on the season, one off of Seattle’s Cal Raleigh for the MLB lead. Schwarber leads MLB with 119 RBIs.

Philadelphia pounded out 20 hits en route to the victory. They lead the National League East by five games over the Mets.

Bucs in Boston

It looks like the Pirates are heading to Fenway Park at the wrong time.

The Pirates are visiting the Boston Red Sox in the middle of a hot streak. They’ve won seven of eight, and four in a row.

In fact, the Red Sox just completed a four-game sweep of the Baltimore Orioles. Rob Refsnyder helped do the damage Wednesday afternoon with a solo homer in the fourth inning as Boston beat Baltimore, 3-2.

REF RECLAIMS THE LEAD!

BEWARE THE LEFTY KILLER™️ ???? pic.twitter.com/kGZ4Mrlq9U

— NESN (@NESN) August 28, 2025

Boston has pitched well during this run of good play. In those seven wins, Red Sox pitchers yielded just 11 runs. They own a 75-60 record, second place in the American League East by 3.5 games behind Toronto. Boston is also a half-game up on the Yankees for the first wild-card slot.

As for the Pirates, they occupy last place in the National League Central at 59-67.

Two of the best young players in Major League Baseball should square off in this series. National League Cy Young candidate Paul Skenes (8-9, 2.07 ERA, 181 strikeouts) is slated to pitch on Friday at Fenway.

According to MLB.com’s Ian Browne, the Red Sox are calling up Payton Tolle, their top pitching prospect and MLB Pipeline’s No. 28 overall, to start opposite Skenes.

Red Sox are calling up Payton Tolle, their top pitching prospect and MLB Pipeline's No. 28 overall, to start Friday night, per multiple sources including MLB's Ian Browne.

He'll make his MLB debut opposite Paul Skenes ???? pic.twitter.com/hdx7cbodeI

— MLB (@MLB) August 28, 2025

Meanwhile, the Red Sox boast rookie Roman Anthony. Over his first 66 games, the 21-year-old outfielder is hitting .291 with seven homers and 29 RBIs with an OPS of .865.

Roman Anthony to straightaway center!

That's his second leadoff homer this series ???? pic.twitter.com/xvXavbUGYV

— MLB (@MLB) August 27, 2025

Boston is 41-25 since Anthony got called up to the majors.

Colonials calm Canisius

Robert Morris’ women’s soccer team got a 1-0 win over Canisius Thursday. Madison Hurst notched the game-winner for the Colonials on a header.

MADI HURST GAME WINNER???????????? pic.twitter.com/wDHivriqZG

— RMU Women's Soccer (@RMUWSoccer) August 28, 2025

Hurst had the other game-winner as well against Southern Indiana last week. RMU improved to 2-1 with the win.

Emma Cameron earned her second straight victory in net. She made a career-high five saves to earn the shutout.

After a season-opening three-game homestand, the Colonials will play their first road contest of the season on Sunday at Eastern Michigan.