With Devin Bush down, Robert Spillane is next man up for Steelers

Robert Spillane knows he can’t replicate Devin Bush on the football field. He doesn’t have 4.43 speed or a Big Ten pedigree. He doesn’t share the sideline-to-sideline playmaking ability that made Bush the most athletic Steelers inside linebacker since Ryan Shazier.

“Devin is a great player,” Spillane said Monday. “He covers, he runs, he makes tackles. He’s all over the field.”

Spillane can’t do most things as well as Bush, otherwise he would not have gone undrafted in 2018, had to climb the NFL ladder via a rookie tryout camp or held a roster spot based on his special teams play.

But that doesn’t mean Spillane isn’t going to try his hardest to adequately replace Bush in the middle of the Steelers defense given that the former No. 10 overall pick is out for the season with a torn knee ligament.

“I’ll do everything I can to cover the best I can,” Spillane said. “I will play run defense, blitz and be a three-down linebacker. I’m confident whoever I’m lined up across, I’ll cover them. I believe in myself strongly.”

It remains to be seen if the Steelers feel the same way. The 6-foot-1, 229-pound Spillane more than capably filled in at inside linebacker after Bush’s injury with 2 minutes, 28 seconds before halftime in the Steelers’ 38-7 victory Sunday against the Cleveland Browns.

Playing a career-high 30 defensive snaps — he had just nine entering the game — Spillane contributed five tackles and an impressive 6-yard tackle for loss on a pass to tight end Austin Hooper.

The question is, will the audition lead to a long-term assignment for Spillane? The Steelers also have Ulysees Gilbert III, who has been a healthy scratch in four of the five games, and converted safety Marcus Allen on the roster. Neither, though, has taken a defensive snap over the past two seasons.

Which leaves Spillane as the most viable internal option to start Sunday at Tennessee.

“Rob is my guy, a guy that comes in each and every day, doesn’t say much, really grinds and puts in the work,” cornerback Cam Sutton said Monday. “I’m really happy for him, really excited for him to see the path that he’s on, the path that he’s grown into as a player. What he’s done thus far that he’s been here on special teams and a limited time on defense, he’s really embraced his role.”

When he replaced Bush, Spillane not only took his spot in the middle of the defense, he wore the green dot in his helmet that goes to the defensive player relaying the calls from the sideline. Bush wore the dot while playing every snap this year until his injury.

“For me, it’s comfortable,” Spillane said about being the signal caller. “I like speaking to my teammates during and pre snaps. I’ve gotten so comfortable with these guys over the past two years, it really feels awesome. As soon as I stepped on the field, I felt like my teammates trusted me and respected the work I put in the last two years. They told me, ‘Rob, you belong out here, this is what you’re meant to do so go out there and show everybody what we know you can do.’’

The number of people believing in Spillane, grandson of 1953 Heisman Trophy winner Johnny Lattner, was a lot fewer in 2018 when he went undrafted after starting most of his four years at Western Michigan. Bypassed as a priority free agent, Spillane had a rookie tryout with the Minnesota Vikings that, as he said, “didn’t go to plan.”

Spillane was awaiting a call for the second (and final) weekend of rookie tryouts when the Tennessee Titans called on Thursday and asked him to be in Nashville the next morning. Spillane was signed out of the tryout, began the year on the Titans practice squad and was promoted to the active roster for two games.

Just as suddenly, Spillane was out of work as the Titans cut him. The Steelers signed him in February 2019 and a similar cycle emerged. Spillane earned a spot on the practice squad to start the season, then was released Sept. 24. The difference was, the Steelers called him back two weeks later and re-signed him. That led to his November promotion to the active roster after a season-ending injury to Gilbert. Spillane had seven solo tackles and three assists on special teams over the final eight games.

“In this business you have to be ready when your opportunity is called upon,” Spillane said of his brief unemployment last season. “I stayed in shape, working out, doing my thing, cardio, keeping ready and believing in myself.

“The moment you don’t believe in yourself, you start going downhill from there. I’ve always had a belief I belonged in the NFL and this is what I’ve been meant to do.”

If all goes as Spillane hopes, he will line up in the middle of the Steelers defense on Sunday in Tennessee against his former team.