There are jobs up for grabs on the linebacker depth chart in Pittsburgh this year and one of the players expected to be in the thick of competition for them has signed his rookie contract.
The Steelers announced Monday that sixth-round pick Vince Williams has agreed to a contract with the team. Williams joins safety Shamarko Thomas as members of the 2013 draft class to agree to deals. There are seven other players, including first-round linebacker Jarvis Jones, still unsigned.
Williams wasn’t invited to the combine despite starting his last two years at Florida State, where he had 13.5 tackles for loss and three sacks. He’ll be part of the mix at inside linebacker behind Lawrence Timmons and Larry Foote and his bid for playing time will get a boost if second-year player Sean Spence’s physical condition ends up being closer to the more negative prognostications floating around this offseason.
Williams is one of the new faces making for a different looking Steelers team at OTAs this month. His work at those sessions will help determine how much we see of that face.