Inside linebacker Robert Spillane, who emerged as a starter last season after Devin Bush’s season-ending ACL injury, signed his exclusive rights tender with the Pittsburgh Steelers on Wednesday.
Spillane was tendered his one-year contract before the start of the new NFL calendar season March 17, but he was vacationing and unavailable to sign the paperwork until his return.
As an exclusive rights free agent, Spillane had no leverage and had to accept the Steelers’ contract offer for the NFL minimum salary of $850,000.
After finishing the 2019 season on the Steelers practice squad, Spillane opened 2020 as a backup, but he ended up making seven starts and played in 12 games. All of his starts came after Bush suffered his ACL injury.
Spillane missed the final four games of the regular season with a knee injury but returned for the wild-card playoff loss to Cleveland. He had a team-high nine tackles in the 48-37 loss.
For the season, Spillane had 43 tackles, including four for a loss, four pass breakups, three quarterback hits, two sacks, one fumble recovery and one interception, which he returned for a touchdown against Baltimore.
The former undrafted free agent played well enough that he could return to a starting role, this time alongside Bush. The Steelers released veteran inside linebacker Vince Williams last week in a cost-cutting move.
