The Pittsburgh Steelers have said that Sean Spence is to return to practice with the team for the first time in over a year.

The linebacker suffered what had been feared to be a potentially career-ending knee injury against the Carolina Panthers in pre-season in 2012.

Head coach Mike Tomlin told the team's website: "We are going to look at Sean participating in some form or fashion this week, probably in a limited capacity, individual drills and so forth.

"We've got a window to evaluate Sean, but more than anything it's about getting him on the field first and just watching him in a limited capacity to see where he is before we make any plans about his participation or how we move forward.

"We'll see how he performs in practice and let that be our guide in terms in how we progress. Initially he will be working in limited capacity in look teams more than not."

The 23-year-old is yet to play a regular season game for the Steelers.