Pittsburgh Steelers cornerback Daylen Everette, Cleveland Browns wide receiver Denzel Boston and Robert Spears-Jennings battle for a pass during the second half of an NFL football game in Cleveland, Thursday, Oct. 1, 2026.
Pittsburgh Steelers cornerback Daylen Everette, Cleveland Browns wide receiver Denzel Boston and Robert Spears-Jennings battle for a pass during the second half of an NFL football game in Cleveland, Thursday, Oct. 1, 2026.
Five plays into Sunday’s game against the Cleveland Browns, two Steelers defenders set the tone.
Browns quarterback Deshaun Watson completed a short pass to tight end Harold Fannin Jr., who was swarmed by a crowd of defenders. Robert Spears-Jennings came up from his safety spot and held Fannin while cornerback Daylen Everette ripped the ball from his hands and recovered it.
Two rookies gave the Steelers the ball in Cleveland territory — and early momentum in a game that ultimately decided first place. The Steelers won their fourth straight game and sit atop the AFC North at the midway point of the season.
An unheralded class of rookie defenders has had something to do with that surge.
Spears-Jennings made his first career start against the Browns — and it doesn’t look like he’s going to give up that job any time soon.
Everette, a third-round pick, also has started once and had an interception against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to go along with his forced fumble and recovery Sunday.
Add in Gabriel Rubio and Kevin Jobity Jr., who have been excellent in their roles following injuries to Derrick Harmon and Sebastian Joseph-Day, and the Steelers are getting contributions from a few different rookie defenders.
Rubio, who was selected in the sixth round, has been a big part of the NFL’s third-ranked run defense, while Jobity, an undrafted free agent, got his first career sack against the Browns.
Spears-Jennings, a seventh-rounder and the 224th overall pick, has been the most impressive.
He’s played more snaps (183) than any other Steelers rookie on defense and he’s looking like someone who will develop into a full-time starter sooner rather than later.
“When we drafted the young man, the only thing we needed to do was fix one thing,” secondary coach Joe Whitt Jr. said. “Big plays found him in college because his eye control wasn’t there. That’s the only thing the kid didn’t have.”
At 6 feet 2 and 205 pounds, Spears-Jennings has good size for the safety position. And his blazing 40-yard dash at the 2026 NFL combine helped him get drafted.
Since then, Whitt has been impressed by his tackling and communication skills on the back end.
“There is nothing from a safety position that this young man cannot do,” Whitt said. “We were very lucky to get him where we got him.”
The Steelers scouted safeties hard before the 2026 draft. They brought in several of the top safeties for visits, including Dillon Thieneman and Emmanuel McNeil-Warren, who were selected in the first and second round, respectively.
The Steelers also had their eye on Spears-Jennings, who has proven to be a quick study. The coaches like Spears-Jennings so much that he’s played more snaps over the past two weeks than veteran DeShon Elliott, a starter who spent the first six weeks of the season on injured reserve.
Through eight weeks, Spears-Jennings has been one of the league’s better late-round rookies.
“The big plays are why he fell to where he fell. He doesn’t give them up [now],” Whitt said. “... He is a phenomenal young player. He’s going to be a good football player for us for a long time.”
Rubio and Jobtiy made their NFL debuts last month. Both were inactive for the first month of the season, but Rubio got called into action when Harmon went on IR. Jobity got the call when Joseph-Day went down.
Cam Heyward and Keeanu Benton are playing more since the injuries, but the young players are playing well enough that those two veterans don’t have to play the vast majority of the defensive snaps. That’s important because it will keep Heyward and Benton fresh later in the season.
“It’s the next-man-up mentality,” defensive line coach Domata Peko said. “Big shoutout to our older guys — Cam and Keeanu. They do a good job of setting the standard every day. As a young guy, when you see the older guys do it the right way, it makes it a lot easier when your name is called.”
First Published: November 5, 2026, 9:00 a.m.