Steelers 2-a-days: Year 2 for ‘Benny Snell Football;’ Robert Spillane a new special teams leader

Editor’s note: Leading up to a unique Pittsburgh Steelers training camp staged at Heinz Field this year, the Tribune-Review will be running through the team’s 90-man roster, assessing each player’s outlook for the 2020 season. The breakdown will go through the roster, in mostly alphabetical order, two per day, between June 9 and July 23, a day that was originally planned to be reporting day for players to camp. (Contract data courtesy spotrac.com)

Powering in ?@benny_snell pic.twitter.com/ihKXd60DeX

— Pittsburgh Steelers (@steelers) July 14, 2020

RB Benny Snell

Experience: 2nd season

Contract status: $850,517 cap hit in 2020, signed through 2022

2020 outlook: Snell busted some big plays as a rookie fourth-round pick last season. Four of his 108 carries went 19 or more yards. By comparison, during Le’Veon Bell’s final season with the Steelers, only one of his 321 carries went that long. But Snell also struggled with an abundance of carries for a yard or less. He was brought in to be a short-yardage, inside runner. He filled that role well at times but wasn’t foolproof at it.

Bottom line: With Snell, James Conner, Jaylen Samuels and rookie Anthony McFarland (as well as Kerrith Whyte) at the position, the Steelers have some decisions to make about the division of labor regarding their running backs. In theory, the varied skill sets of the three behind Conner lend themselves to a nice platoon: Snell the inside runner, Samuels the pass-catcher, McFarland the home-run threat. But Snell would serve himself well to find a way to stand out.

Robert Spillane came through like a mack truck ? @14rspillane pic.twitter.com/kCiHSic4qy

— The Checkdown (@thecheckdown) August 26, 2019

ILB Robert Spillane

Experience: 2 regular-season games with Tennessee in 2018, eight with Steelers last season

Contract status: $675,000 cap hit in 2020, contractual control for at least 2 additional seasons

2020 outlook: Spillane was part of the Steelers’ depth at inside linebacker last year, from summer workouts through training camp and most of the regular season. Though he was unemployed for two weeks, he ended up appearing in each of the final eight games. Spillane played just one snap on defense but was one of the Steelers’ top special-teams players.

Bottom line: In only half a season, Spillane played 165 special-teams snaps. The 16-game equivalent of that puts him among the most-utilized special-teams players in the NFL. Four of the Steelers’ top eight special-teamers from last season (measured by snaps) are gone and another one or two are far from assured a roster spot. In other words, Spillane could settle into a role as arguably the Steelers’ most important special-teamers. And that says nothing about the lack of depth the team has at inside linebacker. Theoretically, Spillane is contending to be one of their top two backups.

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