The Pittsburgh Steelers didn’t have to reach far to find speed in the 2026 NFL Draft. They just had to wait until pick No. 224. That’s where Pittsburgh landed Oklahoma safety Robert Spears-Jennings, a seventh-round flier with a track athlete’s stride and a résumé that reads more like a developmental prospect than a finished product. Nine months later, he’s fighting for a spot on Mike McCarthy’s defense, and early reports suggest he’s not making it easy for the Steelers to cut him.
Spears-Jennings spent four seasons at Oklahoma, appearing in 47 games and closing his college career with 178 tackles, including 101 solo stops, to go with eight tackles for loss and two interceptions, according to Steelers.com. He started the final 12 games of his senior season in 2025 and was a team captain, the kind of leadership marker that shows up in scouting reports even when the box-score numbers don’t jump off the page.
What does jump off the page is the 40 time. Spears-Jennings measured in at 6-foot-1, 205 pounds and ran a 4.32-second 40-yard dash at the NFL Scouting Combine, a number that made him one of the fastest defensive players in the entire draft class, per Steelers Depot. That speed is the whole reason he’s still in the building.
Why the Steelers Were “Surprised” He Was Still Available
Pittsburgh’s defensive staff didn’t expect a shot at Spears-Jennings that late. Assistant head coach and secondary coach Joe Whitt Jr. said as much after the pick, telling reporters the team was “a little bit surprised” he lasted to Round 7, according to Steelers Depot’s account of his comments to the Steelers’ website.
“We value the kid, the height-weight-speed, ability to get people on the ground. Low missed-tackle rate. Pleased to have him. We’ll add him to the room and then we’ll figure out how we’re gonna use him,” Whitt said.
Whitt also flagged the trait that makes Spears-Jennings interesting beyond special teams. “He’s a guy that can play in the box,” Whitt said. “He has the speed to play in high zones. So, he’s not limited by anything from a skill set standpoint. But we’ll use him depending on the guys around him,” he added, per Steelers.com.
Spears-Jennings has echoed that versatility pitch himself. “I feel like I’m a plug-and-play guy,” he said after signing his rookie contract. “You put me anywhere on the field. I can play in the box, I can play in the post, I can play back. It doesn’t really matter to me,” he said, according to Steelers.com’s report on his signing.
The Numbers That Matter Right Now
| Metric | Robert Spears-Jennings (2025, Oklahoma) |
|---|---|
| Games / Starts | 13 games, 12 starts |
| Career Tackles (Oklahoma) | 178 (101 solo) |
| Tackles for Loss (career) | 8, for 33 yards |
| Career Interceptions | 2 |
| 40-Yard Dash | 4.32 seconds |
| Draft Position | Round 7, Pick 224 (2026 NFL Draft) |
The 224th pick itself has a backstory. It was the selection Pittsburgh acquired in the Kyle Dugger trade during the 2025 season, and landing Spears-Jennings with it marked general manager Omar Khan’s ninth selection of the draft, per Steelers Depot’s draft-day report.
A Crowded Room, But an Open Door
Spears-Jennings isn’t walking into an easy spot. Pittsburgh’s safety room already includes DeShon Elliott, Jaquan Brisker and, potentially, Jalen Ramsey, with the team also still monitoring free-agent safety Darnell Savage’s situation, according to Steelers Depot. That’s a lot of established bodies for a seventh-round rookie to climb past.
But the door isn’t shut. Draft analyst Tony Pauline called Spears-Jennings a “woefully underrated defensive back” during the pre-draft process, according to Steelers Depot’s report, and the speed keeps showing up in every conversation about his ceiling. Special teams coordinator Danny Crossman’s unit is widely viewed as his fastest path onto the field in Year 1, with defensive snaps as the longer-term upside if his coverage instincts catch up to his testing numbers.
That development appears to be trending in the right direction. Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reporter Ray Fittipaldo said during a radio appearance in June that Spears-Jennings had a strong spring, according to Heavy.com. The Athletic’s Mike DeFabo went further, reporting in mid-June that Spears-Jennings is pushing for one of the final roster spots on McCarthy’s defense, per the same Heavy.com report. Both accounts point to Spears-Jennings likely competing with fellow young safety Elijah Castro for a roster spot heading into training camp.
What a Realistic Ceiling Looks Like
Projecting a seventh-round safety is mostly about matching traits, not stat lines. Spears-Jennings’ calling card — elite long speed paired with a willingness to hit — lines up with Cleveland Browns safety Grant Delpit, a five-year veteran who’s built a career on exactly that combination.
Delpit, listed at 6-foot-3 and around 208 pounds, posted 89 tackles in 17 games during the 2025 season and allowed a 98.9 passer rating in coverage while surrendering 42 receptions, according to Pro Football Focus data. He’s not a shutdown coverage defender, but he’s reliable enough in the deep third and disruptive enough near the line of scrimmage that Cleveland has kept him as a full-time starter for four straight seasons. That’s the outcome the Steelers would happily sign up for out of Round 7: a long, athletic safety who grows into a two-way role rather than staying strictly a special-teamer.
The name to avoid, at least for now, is a cautionary one. Las Vegas safety Isaiah Pola-Mao carries a similar size profile to Spears-Jennings, but his 2025 season is a reminder of how far speed alone can carry a player before instincts and technique catch up. Pola-Mao played roughly 1,081 defensive snaps last season — a 96% share, tying him for the heaviest defensive workload on the Raiders’ roster — yet posted the worst coverage grade among qualified safeties in the NFL, according to PFF’s 2025 grading data, while allowing a 115.1 passer rating when targeted. Volume of snaps clearly isn’t the hard part for an athlete like that. Translating raw tools into consistent coverage instincts is, and it’s the exact swing skill that will determine whether Spears-Jennings turns into a rotational piece or stalls out as a core special-teamer.
What’s Next
Training camp will be the real test. Pittsburgh’s safety competition behind its established starters is expected to be one of the more closely watched position battles of the summer, with Spears-Jennings’ special teams speed giving him a practical floor even if the defensive reps are slower to come. Nothing about his roster spot is confirmed yet — no games have been played, and camp bodies can change fast — but the early word from two independent Pittsburgh-area reporters points in his favor heading into August.
