The Pittsburgh Steelers’ 2026 offseason practices concluded in the middle of June. Next up is the team’s annual training camp, which will get underway in late July at Saint Vincent College in Latrobe.
Ahead of that, we will preview the team’s offseason roster three players at a time as part of a multi-post series. This Steelers 90-in-30 roster preview, which includes outlooks for every player, is organized alphabetically by last name for an easy follow-along.
This series figures to exceed 90 players this year as the team can carry 91 players during the offseason due to the allowance of one international player designation.
The next three players we will preview ahead of the Steelers 2026 training camp are: WR Brandon Smith, S Robert Spears-Jennings, and OT Lorenzo Thompson.
WR Brandon Smith: Originally signed in 2021 by the Dallas Cowboys as an undrafted free agent out of Iowa, Smith signed a Reserve/Future contract with the Steelers in January. Prior to arriving in Pittsburgh, Smith had also spent time with the Arizona Cardinals, New York Jets, and New England Patriots, mostly as a practice squad player.
In total, Smith has played in three regular-season games since entering the NFL, and all three were as a member of the Jets in 2024 and 2025. He has logged just nine offensive snaps during regular-season play and 13 more on special teams. He has zero stats in NFL regular-season play in his limited playing time.
For his college career at Iowa, Smith recorded 91 total receptions for 1046 yards and nine touchdowns in 39 games played over four college seasons. He was mainly used as an outside wide receiver throughout his college career.
At his 2021 pro day, Smith measured in at 6013, 218 pounds with 34 1/4-inch arms and 9 3/8-inch hands. He ran his pro day 40-yard dash in 4.64-seconds. He did 21 reps on the bench at his pro day and posted a 39-inch vertical jump to go along with a 10’10” broad jump.
Outlook: While Smith has done a great job of keeping himself tied to the NFL as mainly a practice squad player since entering the league in 2021, he is going to have a tough road ahead of him this summer when it comes to his chances of sticking in Pittsburgh after the preseason concludes.
It’s quite obvious that Smith isn’t likely to make the Steelers’ initial 53-man roster this offseason, as the team’s depth chart is way too deep for such a thing to happen. In reality, Smith will be battling for a practice squad spot during training camp and the preseason, and he’ll have a lot of competition when it comes to those challenges.
Smith will likely need to show some special teams ability throughout the summer to help his chances of being an initial practice squad member. That will be easier said than done, however, because Smith has never shown he’s a special-teams asset, dating back to his college career at Iowa. He’s played very few snaps in that phase of the game overall.
Assuming Smith can retain his 91-man roster spot throughout the first few weeks of training camp, we should get to see him log some decent playing time during the Steelers’ three preseason games.
S Robert Spears-Jennings: The Steelers selected Spears-Jennings in the seventh round of the 2026 NFL Draft out of Oklahoma, and he was the team’s ninth selection when it comes to this year’s draft class.
For his college career at Oklahoma, Spears-Jennings registered 178 total tackles, eight tackles for loss, 2.5 sacks, two interceptions, four passes defensed and five forced fumbles in the 47 total games that he played in. Spears-Jennings was a very versatile safety during his college career, playing both the free and strong safety positions.
In total, Spears-Jennings played just over 1,500 defensive snaps during his college career. Spears-Jennings also logged a lot of playing time on special teams throughout his college career. In total, he played nearly 500 special-teams snaps over his span of four college seasons.
At the 2026 NFL Scouting Combine, Spears-Jennings measured in at 6017, 205 pounds with 32 1/2inch arms and 10 3/8-inch hands. He ran his combine 40-yard dash in 4.32-seconds and posted a vertical jump of 35-inches to go along with a broad jump of 10’5″. He also ran the short-shuttle drill in 4.43 seconds at the combine.
Prior to this year’s scouting combine, Spears-Jennings accepted his invitation to participate in the East-West Shrine Bowl.
Outlook: While Spears-Jennings is a very intriguing draft pick for the Steelers this year, his ultimately being selected in the seventh round means he is certainly not guaranteed to make the initial 53-man roster out of the preseason. On top of that, the Steelers have a deep and experienced depth chart at the safety position ahead of training camp getting underway.
Spears-Jennings’ path to a 53-man roster spot this summer will likely include him shining on special teams during training camp and the preseason, and specifically as a gunner and vice-man on the punt units. Based on his college tape, that might not be too tall a task for Spears-Jennings. It also obviously wouldn’t hurt if he made several key defensive plays throughout training camp and the preseason.
Personally, I’m excited to see Spears-Jennings play a lot during the Steelers’ three preseason games this summer as I think he’s got a nice skill set to work with over the long haul. That said, Spears-Jennings is probably more likely to open the 2026 regular season on the team’s practice squad than on the initial 53-man roster. That analysis aside, there is an attainable 53-man roster spot for Spears-Jennings this summer, even though it might be a very thin one with quite a few obstacles embedded in it.
OT Lorenzo Thompson: Originally signed by the Cleveland Browns in 2024 as an undrafted free agent out of Rhode Island, Thompson signed a Reserve/Futures contract with the Steelers in January. As a rookie, Thompson spent the entire 2024 season on the Browns’ practice squad. Cleveland then re-signed Thompson to a Reserve/Futures contract after the 2024 season ended.
After sticking with the Browns throughout their 2025 training camp and preseason, Thompson was ultimately waived by the Browns, and he failed to latch on with another team last season. During his two preseason stints as a member of the Browns, Thompson logged playing time at both left tackle and left guard.
Throughout his college career, Thompson mostly played left tackle. He also appeared in 46 games in college and was a team captain in 2023. He finished his college career with 37 consecutive starts and nearly 2,500 offensive snaps played at Rhode Island.
At his 2024 pro day, Thompson measured in at 6060, 307 pounds with 33-inch arms and 9 5/8-inch hands. He ran his pro day 40-yard dash in 5.02-seconds and did 27 reps on the bench. Thompson also posted a pro day vertical jump of 28-inches, a broad jump of 8’4″, a short-shuttle time of 4.64-seconds and a three-cone time of 7.66-seconds.
Outlook: With Thompson primarily playing left tackle for his college career, one would think that is where he would get most of his training camp and preseason snaps at throughout the remainder of the summer. Thompson, however, only played guard for the Browns during the 2025 preseason, so perhaps that might be the position that the Steelers see as his best fit over the next several weeks.
The fact that Thompson couldn’t secure a practice-squad spot with any NFL team in 2025 is a bit concerning. He’ll obviously have a tough road this summer when it comes to him competing for a spot on the Steelers’ initial practice squad to start the regular season as well. Playing extremely well during the preseason would obviously help his chances, especially if he can show that he can play both tackle and guard.
While Thompson is easily a young offensive lineman to root for moving forward into training camp, he might not retain his 91-man roster spot throughout the summer, with him being on the backend of the depth chart. Should, however, Thompson wind up holding on to his roster spot through the start of the preseason, I imagine he should see some limited playing time in all three of this year’s exhibition contests.
Previous Posts In This Series:
90 In 30: Steelers 2026 Training Camp Preview Series — Drew Allar, Spencer Anderson, Kyler Baugh
90 In 30: Steelers 2026 Training Camp Preview Series — Jaheim Bell, Keeanu Benton, Germie Bernard
90 In 30: Steelers 2026 Training Camp Preview Series — Yahya Black, Chris Boswell, Devan Boykin
90 In 30: Steelers 2026 Training Camp Preview Series — Jaquan Brisker, Carson Bruener, Cole Burgess
90 In 30: Steelers 2026 Training Camp Preview Series — Sebastian Castro, Dylan Cook, Greg Crippen
90 In 30: Steelers 2026 Training Camp Preview Series — Jamin Davis, Joaquin Davis, Jamel Dean
90 In 30: Steelers 2026 Training Camp Preview Series — Rico Dowdle, Jack Driscoll, Gennings Dunker
90 In 30: Steelers 2026 Training Camp Preview Series — Brandin Echols, DeShon Elliott, Daylen Everette
90 In 30: Steelers 2026 Training Camp Preview Series — Troy Fautanu, Zach Frazier, Pat Freiermuth
90 In 30: Steelers 2026 Training Camp Preview Series — JJ Galbreath, Anthony Goodlow, Derrick Harmon
90 In 30: Steelers 2026 Training Camp Preview Series — Malik Harrison, Ahmari Harvey, Eli Heidenreich
90 In 30: Steelers 2026 Training Camp Preview Series — Jack Henderson, Nick Herbig, Cameron Heyward
90 In 30: Steelers 2026 Training Camp Preview Series — Alex Highsmith, Brock Hoffman, Cole Holcomb
90 In 30: Steelers 2026 Training Camp Preview Series — Travis Homer, Will Howard, Max Hurleman
90 In 30: Steelers 2026 Training Camp Preview Series — Max Iheanachor, D’Shawn Jamison, Kevin Jobity Jr.
90 In 30: Steelers 2026 Training Camp Preview Series — Kaleb Johnson, Cameron Johnston, Broderick Jones
90 In 30: Steelers 2026 Training Camp Preview Series — Steven Jones, Sebastian Joseph-Day, Donte Kent
90 In 30: Steelers 2026 Training Camp Preview Series — Christian Kuntz, Logan Lee, Dean Lowry
90 In 30: Steelers 2026 Training Camp Preview Series — Tamon Lynum, Laith Marjan, Ryan McCollum
90 In 30: Steelers 2026 Training Camp Preview Series — Mason McCormick, Lake McRee, DK Metcalf
90 In 30: Steelers 2026 Training Camp Preview Series — Doug Nester, Lew Nichols, Riley Nowakowski
90 In 30: Steelers 2026 Training Camp Preview Series — Esezi Otomewo, A.T. Perry, Michael Pittman Jr.
90 In 30: Steelers 2026 Training Camp Preview Series — Joey Porter Jr., Daryl Porter, Patrick Queen
90 In 30: Steelers 2026 Training Camp Preview Series — Jalen Ramsey, Aaron Rodgers, Gabriel Rubio
90 In 30: Steelers 2026 Training Camp Preview Series — Mason Rudolph, Asante Samuel Jr., Darnell Savage
90 In 30: Steelers 2026 Training Camp Preview Series — Jack Sawyer, Ben Skowronek, Doneiko Slaughter
Recommended for you