For the second week in a row, the Pittsburgh Steelers have elevated WR Ben Skowronek off the practice squad to the Active/Inactive roster, the team announced today.
Skowronek served as a gunner last week for the Steelers, along with CB Darius Rush. He didn’t log any offensive snaps, but he played a key special teams role in 11 special teams snaps and will likely once again serve as a gunner against the Denver Broncos on Sunday.
With Skowronek being elevated, it does call into question the availability of WR Roman Wilson, who was limited in practice yesterday after being a full participant on Thursday and was listed as questionable for the game on Sunday.
A player can only be elevated off the practice squad to the Active/Inactive roster three times, so Pittsburgh will be allowed to activate Skowronek one more time after this week before they’ll have to sign him or keep him on the practice squad. Given that he’s one of the team’s two gunners right now, if he can play well the next two weeks, he’ll potentially have a solid chance to earn a spot on the 53-man roster.
A seventh-round pick by the Los Angeles Rams in the 2021 NFL Draft, and in his career, he has 58 receptions for 575 yards and a touchdown. His best season came in 2022 when he had 39 grabs for 376 yards. He’s also a skilled blocker, and if he is used on offense, that’s an asset that could help the Steelers.
For now, it seems as if Skowronek will primarily be a special teamer in Pittsburgh, but having another receiver on the active roster does likely indicate we might need to wait another week to see Roman Wilson make his NFL debut. It seemed as if it could happen this week, but after Wilson went back to limited practice yesterday, it seemed much more unlikely, and now even more so.
