Steelers sign former Lions special teamer to a one-year deal

The Pittsburgh Steelers has signed their first unrestricted free agent from outside of their organization of the 2021 league year. According to NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport, the Steelers have signed former Detroit Lions’ linebacker Miles Killebrew to a one-year deal.

Drafted in the fourth round of the 2016 NFL draft for the Detroit Lions, Killebrew played in 78 games in five seasons in Detroit. Gaining four starts, Killebrew has two career interceptions with one returned for a touchdown, six passes defensed, a forced fumble, and 105 tackles.

Listed by some experts as a strong safety and others as a linebacker, Killebrew has been cutting out his NFL career on special teams. Playing only one defensive snap in 2020, Killebrew has logged more than 300 special teams snaps per season over the last three years and has over 1600 special teams snaps in his five-year career.

A leader in the locker room and the teams NFLPA rep in 2020, Killebrew is deemed as a strong character signing for the Steelers by the Detroit Lions’ SB Nation site Pride of Detroit:

Signing a one-year contract with the Lions in 2020 which qualified for the veterans salary benefit, there have not been any financial reports of Killebrew’s contract with the Steelers at this time. Being primarily a special teams player, there is a good chance to Killebrew’s one-year deal will be a low salary cap hit and may not even qualify in the compensatory formula.

On behalf of Steelers’ Nation, we want to welcome Miles Killebrew to Pittsburgh and we look forward to seeing you at Heinz Field this fall.

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