The Pittsburgh Steelers have promoted outside linebacker Ade Ogundeji from the practice squad to the active roster, the team announced on Saturday.
Ogundeji, 26, has been on the Steelers practice squad since Aug. 24. He did not play in any of the team’s first five games of the 2024 season.
His call-up was necessitated by a spate of injuries at the outside linebacker position. Alex Highsmith (groin) and Nick Herbig (right hamstring) will miss Sunday’s game against the Las Vegas Raiders and DeMarvin Leal (neck/stinger) was placed on the injured reserve list to make room for Ogundeji.
A 6-foot-4, 268-pound edge rusher, Ogundeji first joined the Atlanta Falcons as a fifth-round draft pick out of Notre Dame in 2021. Ogundeji immediately became a regular in Atlanta, starting 11 games in his rookie season in 2021 and 16 games in 2022. Last season, he missed the entire year due to foot and ankle injuries and Ogundeji was released by the Falcons on May 16.
In 2021, he recorded 33 tackles, five tackles for loss, one sack, two quarterback hits, one pass defended and one forced fumble in 11 games. In 2022, Ogundeji had 42 tackles, three tackles for loss, two sacks and one quarterback hit in 16 games.
A native of West Bloomfield, Michigan, Ade Ogundeji is of Nigerian descent. He redshirted his freshman season at Notre Dame in 2016 and played sparingly in 2017 before becoming a regular part of the rotation in 2018. His best collegiate season came in 2020, when he recorded 23 tackles and seven sacks in 12 games.
The Steelers’ 53-man roster is full after swapping Ogundeji for Leal. Ogundeji’s name is pronounced ah-day oh-gun-day-gee