PITTSBURGH — The Pittsburgh Steelers signed athletic linebacker Kyron Johnson, who was released by the Philadelphia Eagles, to their practice squad this week. The former sixth-round pick ran a 4.40-second 40-yard dash at his Kansas Pro Day and played in 16 games for the Eagles a year ago.
Johnson is a versatile player who played off the edge and off-ball at inside linebacker during his career in the NFL, but for the first day of practice with the Steelers, he was working with the outside linebackers.
Johnson practiced with Markus Golden and David Perales in a drill run by outside linebackers coach Denzel Martin, attempting to simulate avoiding a pulling guard in run defense. The Steelers did not lose any players at outside linebacker, but Alex Highsmith was limited in the week leading up to the team’s Week 5 win over the Baltimore Ravens, so they could be hoping to use Johnson as an extra body at the position to give Highsmith additional time to recover.
The Steelers have just one practice scheduled for this week and then four next week before their next game against the Los Angeles Rams on Oct. 22.
