Is Robert Spears-Jennings the Next Mike Mitchell?

The Pittsburgh Steelers selected Oklahoma safety Robert Spears-Jennings with the 224th overall pick in the seventh round of the 2026 NFL Draft.

At 6-foot-1 and 205 pounds, Spears-Jennings has the dimensions of a modern safety. His long arms, large hands and physical playing style make him look more like a small linebacker once the ball is snapped.

Then there is the speed.

Spears-Jennings ran an official 4.32-second 40-yard dash at the NFL Combine, with a 1.51-second 10-yard split. Oklahoma also recorded a 10-foot-5 broad jump, a 38-inch vertical and a 4.43-second short shuttle among his best pre-draft testing results.

That athletic profile gives the Steelers plenty to develop. However, his tape also explains why a player with such rare straight-line speed remained available until the seventh round.

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Elite speed in a safety’s body

Spears-Jennings’ 4.32 speed is not merely a testing number. It regularly appears on his Oklahoma tape.

When he identifies where the ball is going, he can close ground with startling speed. He flies downhill from a deep alignment, accelerates towards running backs and arrives with genuine force.

There are plays where it appears as though he has been shot out of a cannon.

That combination of size, speed and aggression is particularly appealing in the seventh round. Pittsburgh is not investing premium draft capital or expecting Spears-Jennings to become an immediate starter. It is taking a chance on physical tools that cannot be taught.

The question is whether the Steelers can teach him to use those tools with greater control.

A safety who plays like a linebacker

Spears-Jennings looks most comfortable when the game is happening in front of him.

He is willing to fill a gap, take on a runner and put his body into traffic. He can attack the line of scrimmage, help set the edge and arrive as the extra defender against the run.

There is no reluctance in his game. Spears-Jennings is prepared to put his face into the fan and meet a running back in the hole.

That fits Pittsburgh’s established preference for defensive backs who treat stopping the run as a core responsibility rather than an optional extra.

Across four seasons at Oklahoma, Spears-Jennings played 47 games and made 25 starts. He finished with 178 tackles, eight tackles for loss, 2.5 sacks, five forced fumbles and two interceptions.

The forced-fumble production is especially relevant. He forced four during the 2024 season alone, demonstrating that his physicality could create more than an impressive collision.

The Steelers should initially view him as a box safety, special-teams player and potential sub-package defender rather than asking him to patrol the entire secondary.

Straight-line speed does not solve everything

Spears-Jennings is extremely fast, but speed and fluidity are not the same thing.

His best movement is direct and downhill. He is less convincing when required to change direction, adjust his path or recover after initially reading a play incorrectly.

His backpedal can look choppy and his transitions are not always smooth. When a play develops exactly as he expects, his acceleration can erase space immediately. When there is misdirection or a sudden change of angle, his body can take longer to catch up with what his eyes have seen.

That creates an unusual problem.

A 4.32 safety should theoretically have the range to play deep. However, deep-safety responsibilities demand anticipation, disciplined angles and awareness as much as raw speed.

Spears-Jennings can travel across the field quickly. The concern is whether he will consistently travel towards the correct location.

NFL.com’s pre-draft assessment reached a similar conclusion. It praised his size, toughness and ability to fill against the run, while identifying inconsistent tracking angles, body control and awareness from depth as areas requiring development.

The tackling needs greater control

Spears-Jennings plays at one speed: fast.

That aggression is part of his appeal, but it can also work against him. He occasionally approaches the ball carrier too quickly, chooses an imperfect angle and gives himself no room to adjust.

A safety who arrives at 100 miles an hour can produce a huge hit. He can also fly past the runner entirely.

The issue is therefore not a lack of effort or physical willingness. It is control.

Spears-Jennings must learn when to accelerate, when to shorten his steps and when to force the ball carrier into a predictable path rather than immediately launching himself towards the target.

When he is properly aligned, he is a strong and physical tackler. The development must come before contact—through recognition, positioning and approach angle.

Can he survive in coverage?

Spears-Jennings possesses some of the physical ingredients required to cover NFL receivers and tight ends.

He has size, length and recovery speed. Those qualities could allow him to match up with athletic tight ends, carry a route through a zone or recover when initially beaten.

The tape does not yet show a player who should regularly be trusted in isolated man coverage.

His change of direction can become exposed against sharper route runners, while his processing remains a concern when he is responsible for a large area of the field. Quarterbacks will deliberately test him with misdirection, double moves and route combinations that force him to make rapid decisions.

He was effectively a two-year starter at Oklahoma, starting the final 11 games of 2024 and the final 12 games of 2025. There is therefore still room for his awareness and technique to improve with further experience.

The Steelers should avoid asking him to perform every safety responsibility immediately.

His early defensive opportunities could instead come through specific assignments:

• Playing close to the line of scrimmage

• Covering a defined underneath zone

• Matching up with less agile receiving targets

• Attacking the edge against the run

• Spying a mobile quarterback

• Blitzing from the secondary

• Entering as an additional physical defender in obvious running situations

That would allow Pittsburgh to use his speed aggressively without exposing his current limitations on every snap.

The Mike Mitchell comparison

Spears-Jennings’ combination of size, speed, aggression and occasionally unreliable angles creates an obvious comparison with former Steelers safety Mike Mitchell.

Mitchell was selected by the Oakland Raiders with the 47th overall pick in the 2009 NFL Draft. His selection was widely regarded as a classic Al Davis gamble on exceptional athletic traits.

It took time for Mitchell to establish himself. After four seasons with the Raiders, he spent 2013 with Carolina before signing a five-year contract with Pittsburgh in 2014.

Mitchell was never universally popular with Steelers supporters. He could take questionable angles, become caught out of position and occasionally allow his aggression to overwhelm his discipline.

But receivers were always aware of his presence.

Mitchell brought intimidation to the secondary. Players crossing the middle knew there was a chance he would arrive with considerable force, and that threat could affect how comfortably they attacked certain areas of the field.

That is the element Spears-Jennings could reproduce.

The comparison is not a claim that a seventh-round rookie will automatically become an NFL starter. Spears-Jennings must improve significantly before he can be trusted with the workload Mitchell eventually handled.

It is instead a picture of his possible ceiling: a fast, powerfully built safety whose physical presence becomes as important as his statistical production.

If Pittsburgh eventually develops Spears-Jennings into that level of player, the 224th pick will represent outstanding value.

Special teams provides his immediate route

Spears-Jennings’ most realistic route onto the initial roster is special teams.

His speed, frame, toughness and appetite for contact should translate naturally to kick coverage. He has the athletic profile to work as a gunner and the physicality to defeat blocks and tackle in space.

The Steelers have described him as capable of playing in the box or in high zones, but his special-teams ability should buy him the developmental time required to become a dependable defensive reserve.

That is the normal progression for a seventh-round defensive back:

1. Establish value in the kicking game.

2. Become reliable enough to dress on game day.

3. Earn limited defensive assignments.

4. Develop into a rotational safety and dependable backup.

5. Compete for a larger defensive role.

Spears-Jennings does not need to win a starting job immediately for the selection to succeed. Becoming a core special-teams contributor with a useful defensive package would already make him a valuable seventh-round pick.

UK Steelers Podcast verdict

Robert Spears-Jennings looks like an old-school Steelers defender.

He is big, extremely fast, physical and completely willing to attack the run. His tape contains the kind of downhill collisions that immediately make a safety interesting.

It also contains late recognition, poor angles, missed opportunities and movement that can become uncomfortable when he is forced to change direction.

The traits are ahead of the instincts.

That is why Pittsburgh was able to select him in the seventh round, and it is also why he represents an attractive gamble at that stage of the draft.

The Steelers should begin by using Spears-Jennings on special teams and in carefully defined defensive situations. Let him attack rather than hesitate. Send him after the quarterback, place him near the line of scrimmage and give him assignments that keep the play in front of him.

The dream is that his awareness, discipline and coverage technique eventually catch up with his athletic ability.

If that happens, the Mike Mitchell comparison may prove surprisingly appropriate: an intimidating safety with exceptional straight-line speed, enough range to affect the passing game and a physical presence that opponents must account for.

Spears-Jennings was a seventh-round pick for a reason.

But this is exactly where teams should take chances on players with the tools to become far more than seventh-round talents.

Could Robert Spears-Jennings become the next Mike Mitchell? Watch the full UK Steelers Podcast breakdown above and let us know what you think of the pick.