Steelers Now
Before being drafted by the Pittsburgh Steelers, Robert Spears-Jennings accomplished his objectives at the NFL Scouting Combine.
“Run fast, jump high,” Spears-Jennings wrote on Instagram shortly afterward. “That’s it.”
His 4.32-second 40-yard dash was the second-fastest at his position at the evaluation event, behind only Ohio State’s Lorenzo Styles Jr. (4.27). Spears-Jennings, who Mike McCarthy’s team took in the seventh round (No. 224) overall, is far from guaranteed a roster spot.
The Steelers didn’t think Spears-Jennings would be around long enough for them to be able to add.
“We were a little bit surprised,” Steelers assistant head coach and secondary coach Joe Whitt Jr. said. “We value the kid, the height, weight, speed, ability to get people on the ground, low missed tackle rate.”
The rookie safety enters training camp aiming to combine blazing speed and a will-do mindset in order to secure one. Spears-Jennings described himself after being drafted as “a plug-and-play guy,” adding that it doesn’t matter to him where he’s deployed. When he gets on the field, he feels his speed will show he can cover the entire width of the field.
Before he sees time on the defensive side of the ball, though, he’ll probably have to prove himself as an able special teamer. That doesn’t bother him.
“I was an all-four guy for three of my years,” Spears-Jennings said. “My senior year, I almost played punt, but besides that, I played all-four special teams. So, I mean, that’s the coolest way to get on the bus. I’m willing to play it.”
Acquired: The Steelers drafted Robert Spears-Jennings in the seventh round (No. 224 overall) in the 2026 NFL Draft.
According to 247 Sports’ consensus rankings, Spears-Jennings was a four-star recruit in the Class of 2022 and chose to play in Norman instead of at Arkansas, Ole Miss, Texas Tech and others. He played as a freshman and sophomore, but became a full-time starter as a junior.
Spears-Jennings started 23 games for the Sooners over his final two collegiate go-rounds. He had 66 tackles as a junior and also forced four fumbles. NFL.com draft analyst Lance Zierlein tabbed him with a fifth-round draft projection.
Spears-Jennings ran a 4.32-second 40-yard dash at the NFL Scouting Combine, along with a 35-inch vertical jump and a 10-foot, 5-inch broad jump. He was measured at over 6-foot-1 and 205 pounds.
He was tagged with an unofficial 9.78 Relative Athletic Score, which ranked 28th out of 1,242 strong safeties from 1987 to 2026.
Spears-Jennings will be paid $885,000 in base salary this season. He carries a cap hit of $925,982.
Both of Spears-Jennings’ parents both served in the U.S. Navy. He was born in South Carolina, but lived in Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Maryland, Virginia and Texas before settling in Broken Arrow, Okla.,...
