The Steelers may already have a better answer at safety than the one they’ve been using.
Robert Spears-Jennings, a seventh-round pick, has been on the field for 47 snaps through Pittsburgh’s first two games, but only one of those came on defense. The rest have come on special teams, where he’s already made his presence felt. That’s a small sample, sure, but it’s enough to make a stronger case for him getting a real look on the back end of the defense.
That push becomes even more obvious when you look at how Rayshawn Jenkins has performed. Jenkins has played 57 percent of Pittsburgh’s defensive snaps, according to Pro Football Reference, and he’s been one of the few weak points on the unit. Against the Patriots, he was involved in two of the biggest breakdowns of the day, getting blocked out of TreVeyon Henderson’s 39-yard touchdown in the first quarter by Pop Douglas before losing Romeo Doubs on a 63-yard catch in the third quarter.
Spears-Jennings, by contrast, has spent the early part of the season building his case the hard way. He wasn’t a sure thing to make the 53-man roster when camp opened. But once he started working with the first-team defense while DeShon Elliott and Jaquan Brisker were dealing with injuries at different times in Latrobe, he moved himself into position.
His preseason helped lock it in. Spears-Jennings played in all three exhibition games and gave up just three catches for 19 yards, while also recording a pass breakup, a quarterback hit and six tackles over 120 total snaps on defense and special teams, per Pro Football Focus.
He’s carried that momentum into the regular season on special teams. Spears-Jennings picked up a game ball after making three tackles in the Week 1 win over the Atlanta Falcons, then followed that with four tackles against the New England Patriots in Week 2.
Special teams coordinator Danny Crossman praised the rookie’s approach this week, saying, "The scouting department and the coaches did a great job of identifying, and more importantly, he came in with a great mindset," special teams coordinator Danny Crossman said this week. "He came in with the mindset to, whatever his role was going to be, he was going to buy in and he was going to try to be an exceptional player at whatever we asked him to do.
He’s finding ways to make plays in a lot of ways. He’s point-of-attack making plays, he’s redirect making plays, he’s getting off the ground after he gets knocked off of a tackle and still getting involved in a play.
So, really happy with where he is and hopefully just keep developing him. We think we got a good player right there.”
The path at safety won’t be wide open for long. Jalen Ramsey and Brisker are expected to keep seeing plenty of snaps there, especially with Elliott out until at least Week 5 while he’s on IR. But Spears-Jennings has a clearer argument than Jenkins right now, and Pittsburgh should find out what it has in the rookie before Elliott returns.
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For the Steelers, the warning is obvious. Quarterback evaluations do not stop being complicated after draft night, and even a player selected with real conviction can be pushed aside before the team ever gets the long-term answer it thought it was buying. If Pittsburgh is mapping out its next move at the position, this is the sort of reminder that patience, timing and the right fit matter just as much as the draft capital spent to get there. [Read more 🡒]