With the purge of players off the Steelers roster, the team will need to rely on some unproven in-house options to serve as replacements.
The Steelers lost a slew of starters so far this offseason, and while the team will certainly turn to the draft in hopes of finding replacements, they will also have to rely on some of their current rostered players to step up. This team will be filled with new starters next season, and many of those new faces will be getting some of their first starts in their career. Here are the five Steelers that will need to step up and take on bigger roles next season.
Robert Spillane
One of the more pleasant surprises for the Steelers in 2020 was the emergence of Robert Spillane on defense. The former undrafted rookie had carved out a role on special teams, but he showed solid athleticism and play processing when he stepped in for the injured Devin Bush. With the release of Vince Williams, the other starting inside linebacker job is Spillane’s to lose.
To be fair, Spillane did play over a third of the snaps for the defense in 2020 in his new role, meaning that he is already used to seeing extensive playing time. That said, given his new role, his playing time should rival Williams (in the 65-75 percent of the defensive snaps). That is quite the jump for any young player. Add in the lack of options behind Spillane right now and his role becomes that much more critical. Spillane still has a lot of questions to answer, and his new role in 2021 will likely lead to him either sinking or swimming.