How Healthy Is Miles Killebrew?
March 16th, 2026
Healing newcomer.
So Joe has been wrestling with writing about the Bucs signing former Steelers special teams stud Miles Killebrew last week.
The guy turns 33 soon and had major knee surgery in late October.
Killebrew is listed a safety, but he averaged about 2 snaps per game on defense during his five seasons with the Steelers. He’s a special teams guy all the way.
Is Killebrew healthy? Joe couldn’t find specifics on Killebrew’s injury, other than the Steelers calling it “significant” and Killebrew sharing photos from a hospital bed on Oct. 20. It was the first serious injury of his 10-year career.
It happened covering a kickoff and was blamed on the field conditions at the Steelers’ home turf. Legendary Steelers defensive tackle Cam Heyward said of the field, “Honestly, it was sh*t,” Heyward said. “I lost one of my teammates and that makes me sad about it.”
Is Killebrew in Tampa mostly as a courtesy to new Bucs special teams coach Danny Smith, the longtime Pittsburgh special teams guru?
Maybe Smith wanted his guy for reasons that go beyond health and ability. Joe would understand that considering how dreadful Bucs special teams were last year, but Joe sure hopes Killebrew can recover fully. At a reported $1.8 million salary, Killebrew took a pay cut to play in Tampa.
Joe will hope Killebrew is ready for training camp.
March 16th, 2026 at 10:01 am
Signing literally anyone that has ever paid special teams anywhere at any level is an upgrade imo.
March 16th, 2026 at 10:02 am
… and the grass at Raymond James isn’t famously wonderful. Between mid-September through almost the end of October, the field was being used every single week between Bucs and Bulls games. Then there was a stint in November when Bucs played the Patriots 3 days after the bulls used the field.
USF Bulls can’t build their stadium fast enough. Both teams will benefit from that greatly.
March 16th, 2026 at 10:03 am
Love the signing
March 16th, 2026 at 10:12 am
If the Bucs Med staff signed off-He darn sure better be healthy
March 16th, 2026 at 10:19 am
The Bucs had one of the worst Special Teams in NFL history
Miles Killebrew is a Special Teams Captain
That’s exactly what we need in Tampa
March 16th, 2026 at 10:35 am
If the only muscle working is his brain it’s still a great move.
March 16th, 2026 at 10:46 am
The only thing that saved our kick return team from further embarrassment
Was the fact, our offense could not score points
March 16th, 2026 at 10:49 am
Love the signing……I saw where Grant Stuard is still in the NFL…not bad for a Mr. Irrelevant pick by the Bucs!
March 16th, 2026 at 10:50 am
If our offense could’ve scored like they did in 2024
Our kickoff team would’ve been the worst ever
March 16th, 2026 at 10:51 am
Lakeland Says:
March 16th, 2026 at 10:19 am
The Bucs had one of the worst Special Teams in NFL history.
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RodMunch and the other girls thinks the Bucs 2025 special teams play was great. When they did give up long plays, Munch says it was Baker Mayfield’s fault. Munch goes on to say that the Bucs in 2025 had solid Oline play exceeded only by the terrific pass defense headlined by Jamel Dean.
March 16th, 2026 at 10:58 am
Gunner opposite of Josh Hayes on punt cover team, hopefully we don’t replicate being a top 10 unit in terms of punt frequency again in 2026.
March 16th, 2026 at 10:58 am
Why are we even talking 👄 about him?
March 16th, 2026 at 11:25 am
Top upgrade of the year to me. High expectations.
Special teams cost us the playoffs and more and needs c this and more imo
March 16th, 2026 at 11:58 am
Munch contradicts himself all the time. It’s supposed to Rain hard later, that’s Baker mayfields fault
March 16th, 2026 at 12:14 pm
Hopefully he can stay on the field we have had enough injuries around here the past few seasons.
March 16th, 2026 at 12:56 pm
Miles Killebrew suffered a season-ending torn ACL in his knee during the Pittsburgh Steelers’ Week 6 win over the Cleveland Browns in October 2025. The special teams captain underwent surgery and missed the remainder of the 2025 season. As of March 2026, he is expected to be ready for the upcoming season.
March 16th, 2026 at 1:22 pm
Whatever, bring him in, if he’s healthy then great. Just sounds like a special teams guy in any case.
March 16th, 2026 at 2:02 pm
If he was hopping on one leg, he’d still be better than most of goofs we had on Special Ed Teams last year.
March 16th, 2026 at 2:36 pm
Why is it we seem to always take somebody’s leftovers? Is our former guard Ian Beckles right? That teams that don’t sign really good players are both too worried about what management will say$$$$? And? They’re just not committed to trying for a super bowl.
When your general manager is doing the first thing? And only wants to do draft picks, when most of them don’t work out? Very bottom line indeed.
March 16th, 2026 at 3:00 pm
Hey Gipper, are you high on Crack? Our offense only won against certain teams no really good ones except for Seattle and Houston, and we struggled to win those ones, our defense almost NEVER PLAYED WELL FOR A WHOLE GAME, OUR SPECIAL TEAMS WERE A JOKE! NEXT SEASON, PICK BETTER TV COVERAGE TO WATCH. NO INSULT INTENDED JUST MAKING A POINT.
March 16th, 2026 at 3:49 pm
Matthew Slater must not have wanted to unretire/be available. Bright Licht wants a more “vintage” roster these days. He went with mostly over 30 year old players. And one stunt/body double of Bucky Irving. Licht keeps the league guessing/on their (camel)toes.
March 16th, 2026 at 4:56 pm
I suspect he will be spectacular….in particular compared to what we are used to.
March 16th, 2026 at 5:26 pm
Gotta be a step up.
March 16th, 2026 at 8:46 pm
Munch is the Heck of the comment section.
March 16th, 2026 at 9:41 pm
Oh yeah The Steelers had a great special team unit. I’m excited to see what we can do this year in that area. It’s a great improvement whatever we do get over nothing that we had last year.
March 16th, 2026 at 10:19 pm
Usedtocould Says:
March 16th, 2026 at 8:46 pm
Munch is the Heck of the comment section.
————
A part-time NFL starter.
I’ll take it!
March 16th, 2026 at 11:40 pm
Maybe he needs to gain a lot of weight. He’s come to the right head coach to teach that, along with regression skills such as whiffing, paralysis on the field from failure to know assignments, and of course the acute indifference to winning .
Can’t wait for this guy to learn all these things and be another prized development achievement.
March 17th, 2026 at 11:36 am
KABucs
Remember when our field was consistently rated the best in the league ? Agree USF can’t get out soon enough.