The Pittsburgh Steelers have now lost another one of their unrestricted free agents as linebacker Sean Spence has signed a one-year, $2.5 million contract with the Tennessee Titans.
Spence, who was originally drafted by the Steelers in the third-round of 2012 NFL Draft out of Miami, will now be reunited with defensive coordinator Dick LeBeau in Tennessee. LeBeau was the Steelers’ defensive coordinator for the first three years of Spence’s NFL career.
Spence played in 31 regular season games over the course of the last two seasons in Pittsburgh and recorded 90 tackles and two sacks during that span. The young linebacker missed the first two seasons of his NFL career due to a serious knee injury that he suffered in the Steelers final preseason game of his rookie season.
Spence becomes the third Steelers unrestricted free agent to sign with a new team this offseason as tackle Kelvin Beachum and nose tackle Steve McLendon both agreed to terms with the Jacksonville Jaguars and New York Jets respectively on Tuesday.
The loss of Spence, combined with the potential forthcoming loss of fellow unrestricted free agent linebacker Terence Garvin, could force the Steelers to address the inside linebacker position at some point during the 2016 NFL Draft.
Currently, the Steelers have inside linebackers Lawrence Timmons, Ryan Shazier, Vince Williams, L.J. Fort, and Jordan Zumwalt all under contract for the 2016 season, Zumwalt, however, has yet to play a regular season snap for the Steelers after being drafted by them in the sixth-round of the 2014 NFL Draft out of UCLA. Timmons and Williams are also in the final year’s of their current contracts.
Prior to him signing with the Titans on Wednesday, Spence visited with the Jaguars and the Miami Dolphins.
