NFL · 1 hour ago

Is Steelers Robert Spears-Jennings the next Brett Keisel? A Seventh Round Steal

Bo Marchionte

Host · Writer

Does Pittsburgh Have a Steal?

The fire was lit early for rookie safety Robert Spears-Jennings.

He was nine years old when he got the chance to play inside Cowboys Stadium. For a kid from South Carolina who already dreamed about Sundays, walking onto an NFL field left a mark.

“I mean, it was my dream to play in an NFL stadium, and at that young age, you play in there,” Spears-Jennings said. “So now it just gives you extra motivation to play when you’re older. So, I feel like it had a little fuel to my fire, even though I was young.”

Now the stadium gets bigger, the collisions get louder and the games count.

Sunday, Pittsburgh takes on the Atlanta Falcons, and Spears-Jennings will dress for his first NFL regular-season game. It’s the stage he has been chasing since that afternoon in Dallas.

“For me, it’s a dream come true, a blessing,” Spears-Jennings said. “I mean, pray for times like this, and I finally get opportunity. So, it’s blessing for real.”

The draft card says seventh round.

The player doesn’t necessarily look like one.

Why Can’t Spears-Jennings Be Next?

Pittsburgh has found legitimate NFL players in the seventh round before.

Brett Keisel arrived from BYU in 2002 with little fanfare and left Pittsburgh with two Super Bowl rings, a Pro Bowl selection and 30 career sacks. Kelvin Beachum in 2012 and Tyler Matakevich in 2016 turned seventh-round selections into lengthy NFL careers. Current Steelers guard Spencer Anderson was taken in the seventh round in 2023.

That doesn’t make Spears-Jennings the next Keisel. Seventh-round picks are seventh-round picks for a reason.

But Spears-Jennings has something scouts will always bet on late in a draft: traits that give the coaching staff somewhere to go.

NFL.com analyst Lance Zierlein projected Spears-Jennings as a fifth-round prospect, calling him a safety with “NFL traits” and “plus coverage tools,” while pointing to his size, toughness and ability to play near the line of scrimmage.

That scouting report is where Spears-Jennings gets interesting.

At roughly 6-foot-1 and 208 pounds, Spears-Jennings ran in the 4.3s at the NFL Combine and ranked among the most athletic safeties in Indianapolis.

The Violence Is Already on Tape

What happens when he arrives might be his calling card.

Zierlein saw the coverage tools. Anyone who watched Spears-Jennings at Oklahoma also saw the thump.

In 2024, Spears-Jennings produced four forced fumbles and five sacks. Those aren’t decorative statistics for a safety. They tell you something about how he plays the position.

He doesn’t merely want to participate in the tackle. He wants the ball carrier to remember it.

“Yeah, I feel like sometimes it goes unnoticed,” Spears-Jennings said of his ability to deliver big hits. “But I mean, that’s for me to show, so put it on showcase.”

That’s about as good a seventh-round rookie mentality as Pittsburgh could ask for.

The athletic profile gives him a ceiling. The physicality gives him an identity. Special teams gives him a way onto the field while the rest develops.

And that last part matters. Late-round players rarely get the luxury of developing from a distance. Their first NFL currency is usually special teams. That’s how seventh-round picks stop being seventh-round picks.

From Touchdowns to Taking Them Away

There’s another wrinkle to Spears-Jennings’ story.

When he first played inside Cowboys Stadium, he wasn’t roaming the secondary. He was a running back scoring touchdowns.

“It was like the Texas team versus Arkansas team,” Spears-Jennings said. “We played in the Cowboys Stadium, and like me and my homeboy, we just had a monster game. Like three TDs each. It was insane.”

Years later, he has found the other side of the football suits him better.

“I mean, safety you get to make impact damn near every play,” Spears-Jennings said. “You get to hit somebody every play or make a play on the ball. So, I feel like it’s better than receiver because receiver, you might get the ball, you might not get the ball the whole game. So, it’s like an impact in some way at safety.”

That might explain Spears-Jennings better than any scouting report.

At nine years old, Robert Spears-Jennings walked onto an NFL field and imagined what it might feel like to belong there someday.

Sunday, he doesn’t have to imagine anymore.

But at 6-foot-1, 208 pounds, with 4.3 speed and bad intentions when he arrives, he’s got one hell of a place to start.

Robert Spears-Jennings College Bio