We might have a special teams star in the making on kick coverage

His name is Robert Spears-Jennings, the Steelers’ seventh-round pick out of Oklahoma.Spears brings the exact traits and production that translate beautifully to an elite special teams contributor. The guy is mean as a snake and loves to hit.

Elite Athleticism: He blazed a 4.32-second 40-yard dash at the NFL Combine — elite top-end speed that lets him close like a missile on coverage units.

Forced Fumbles: He’s known for arriving with “bad intentions,” and it shows in the stats — 5 forced fumbles over his college career. That violence at the point of contact should translate perfectly to jarring the ball loose on kickoffs and punts.

He might get lost in man coverage at the next level, and that’s okay. He doesn’t need to be a every-down defensive back to earn his keep. He can absolutely carve out a meaningful role — even become a star — on special teams.The Steelers have finally started paying real attention to kick returners and coverage guys this year (and it’s about damn time). Special teams make up roughly 20% of the game, so using some of those extra late-round picks on high-upside athletes like Spears is smart.

 

Just call him “the assassin” with that kind of name.

 

That nickname was already taken by Jack Tatum.

 

But this guy includes his middle name.

 

And he actually played a down in the NFL

 

With 3 names; Robert Spears Jennings sounds like a Serial Killer to me.

 

maybe Darius Heyward Bey was the exception, although he did kill his own team

 

Slow your roll OP, Jennings has to make the team first.

 

He was playing out of position

I seem to vaguely remember a one man push that he should be on defense

There was no need to put that thought into long term memory

 

Maybe see him do anything in pads against NFL players before getting too worked up

 

https://www.instagram.com/reels/DXmbjFajs-Z/

None of the new rookies (Allar, Bernard, Iheanachor, etc.) have done anything in the NFL yet… but there are already several threads hyping their potential. Not everyone can connect the dots from a player’s college career to project how he’ll do in the pros. Thankfully we have JEH here.

 

Hope you're right.

Good ST players are important.

And standing out there is how late round guys like this need to make the team.

Any time you can get any kind of contribution out of a 7th rounder it's a win.

 

i wouldn't mind seeing him make some of that noise from the free safety spot in the future.

 

Those three guys are locks to make the roster, Jennings not so much.

 

You two can argue with each other directly.

I guess I can go throw cold water on the other threads. It'd be only fair.

Steelers message boards have done this basically my whole life. Hype up the team based on pie in the sky statements and plays made during football in shorts. Then the team doesn't meet those arbitrary and unrealistic expectations. Then everyone wants to start firing people because they feel sad.

It's a cycle of nonsense. And yes, I am a ray of sunshine.

 

jeh not JEH (it’s not that complicated )

Here to help those in need and less fortunate

 

I myself do see RSJ being a very good Special Teams player as a Rookie. That said, I also agree with @steelersrule6 that he needs to make the team. Truth be told, I am still in the belief that the team will either trade for or pick up a Safety during the final cuts of the Preseason.


Among those players?! Isaiah Pola Mao would be an option to look for. Jeremy Chinn technically is as well but he will command a bigger draft pick trade and will need to be paid as well. As for Isaiah, he likely will have fallen out of favor with the new Las Vegas regime. Patrick Graham does have history with him given how Graham has been effusive of Pola Mao's work ethic since being undrafted.


Should Isaiah become a roster cut, I expect the Steelers to give him a look based on his history with Graham. Darnell Savage isn't out either for me but that situation is turning out to be more ambiguous than I initially thought.

 

I hate when I get sucked up in some of the hype put on here and then it doesn't come to true.

 

Sit down clown, JEH = Just Exploding Hard. You figure it out.

 

Hype is one thing. Projection and how a guy can actually help a team win is something else entirely. In my opinion, the best kick coverage players on special teams are usually safeties. The fact that he’s already known for forcing fumbles is just gravy. Give me a guy who can move swiftly, tackle cleanly, and hit any day of the week and twice on Sundays — that’s exactly the type of player you want flying down on kick coverage.


IMO, he will make the team barring injury.

 

I wonder what steeler fans thought in 1969 when Noll was hired. “Here we go again, Art hiring another loser”

 

The bar is Rod Woodson, then AB.

 

Pirates were still kings of the Burgh when Noll came along. At first most of us thought the sucky Steeler ways would continue since we won one game his first season. And the next two seasons were nothing special but Noll was building one hell of a team.

 

Our 1st, 2nd, and 3rd round picks are in no danger of not making the team. The player you are talking about has to have a great offseason to have even a shot at the 53 man roster, so the idea that he may be a star in the making is probably a bit premature. We see these camp darlings every year across every team, the almost never amount to anything let alone a star player.

 

Is this about right??