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• Updated Jun 21, 2026 at 12:38pm

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The Athletic's Mike DeFabo reported Pittsburgh Steelers seventh-round rookie Robert Spears-Jennings is pushing for a roster spot on Mike McCarthy's defense.

Coming off a draft where the team made 10 selections, Mike McCarthy and the Pittsburgh Steelers have quite a few intriguing young players on the roster. One of those rookies who had a strong offseason is a player to keep an eye on at training camp — safety Robert Spears-Jennings.

During the draft process, NFL.com’s Lance Zierlein touted Spears-Jennings for his size and toughness. But the Steelers grabbed Spears-Jennings with their second-to-last selection in the seventh round. That’s not the typical place for a safety ready to earn a roster spot as a rookie.

On June 16, though, The Athletic’s Mike DeFabo argued Spears-Jennings should do exactly that — compete for one of the final roster spots in the Pittsburgh secondary this summer.

DeFabo even predicted the seventh-round rookie to be successful.

“Safety Sebastian Castro, a UDFA last offseason, was getting a lot of first-team reps in place of Elliott (who wasn’t quite ready for full-team work),” wrote DeFabo. “However, seventh-round rookie safety Robert Spears-Jennings has looked good, and I think they’ll keep him.

“I also expect them to look for a potential safety who gets cut from another team to upgrade that group, and maybe they push Spears-Jennings and Castro to the practice squad.”

Over four seasons at Oklahoma, Spears-Jennings posted 178 combined tackles in 47 career games. The safety had 59 combined tackles, including 1.5 for loss, two pass defenses, 1.5 sacks and one forced fumble during 13 games last season.

Spears-Jennings registered a career-best four forced fumbles as a junior in 2024.

The Steelers selected the safety at No. 224 overall.