Will Allen Re-Signs with Steelers: Latest Contract Details, Analysis, Reaction

Safety Will Allen will be in Pittsburgh Steelers colors once again during the 2015 season. 

Adam Caplan of ESPN noted Friday that the Steelers will re-sign the veteran for his 12th season.

Allen was drafted out of Ohio State by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2004 and played there until he joined the Steelers for the 2010 campaign. He has appeared in 74 games for the Steelers since, although he played for the Dallas Cowboys for five games during the 2013 campaign.

Allen has six interceptions on his career and often started for Troy Polamalu when the latter was dealing with injury concerns. Allen also played special teams for the Steelers, and his versatility will be valuable moving forward.

It should come as no surprise that Allen was re-signed the day after Polamalu retired. Allen may be on the wrong side of his 30th birthday at 32, but he brings valuable experience and depth to a secondary that will need some leadership in 2015 without Polamalu as the rock at the back end.

Allen may not start for the Steelers with players like Mike Mitchell and Shamarko Thomas, but he will find a way on the field in some capacity with that versatility.

Scott Brown of ESPN believes it will be Thomas who fills in for Polamalu in the starting lineup:

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But Thomas figures to get the first crack at replacing Polamalu for a number of reasons -- not the least of which is that Polamalu has spent the past two years grooming Thomas to do just that.

Polamalu gladly accepted Thomas as a protégé after the Steelers used a fourth-round pick on the Syracuse product in 2013.

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Thomas may be the next man up, but Allen is certainly a candidate to fill that leadership void.