The Pittsburgh Steelers have signed veteran wide receiver Ben Skowronek to their practice squad, the team announced on Friday.
Skowronek, 27, is entering his fourth NFL season. He spent his first three seasons with the Los Angeles Rams after being selected in the seventh round of the 2021 NFL Draft out of Notre Dame. He won Super Bowl LVI with the Rams after the 2021 season.
Skowronek was traded along with a seventh-round pick in the 2025 NFL Draft to the Houston Texans for a sixth-round pick in May, but he was unable to crack a loaded wide receivers room in Houston.
With the Rams, his most productive season came in 2022, when he started 11 games and caught 39 passes on 61 targets for 376 yards. The emergence of young players Puca Nacua and Tutu Atwell helped reduce Skowronek’s playing time in 2023, when he did not start a game and was targeted only 12 times throughout the season, catching eight passes for 66 yards.
The 6-foot-3, 220-pound receiver remained a key member of the L.A. special teams units. He recorded 325 snaps on special teams in 2023, and worked on five phases, participating in kick returns, kick coverage, punt returns, punt coverage and field goal block units. He finished with 13 special teams tackles to lead the Rams.
The Steelers have been seeking answers on special teams, particularly at the punt gunner position, where 2023 starters Miles Boykin and James Pierre moved on in free agency and the replacements, including wide receiver Scotty Miller and several young defensive backs, struggled at times in the preseason.
A Fort Wayne, Indiana native, Skowronek started collegiately at Northwestern, where he played for four seasons, and had his most productive collegiate season with 644 yards and five touchdowns in 2017. He transferred to Notre Dame for his redshirt senior season in 2020.