The Pittsburgh Steelers have elevated LB Jon Rhattigan from the practice squad ahead of their Week 2 game against the Seattle Seahawks, the team announced on Saturday afternoon.
Rhattigan spent the first three years of his career with the Seattle Seahawks before playing with the Carolina Panthers last season. Now he will play against his former team with the Steelers in Week 2.
The Steelers signed Rhattigan to their practice squad on Sept. 2, shortly after they released WR Robert Woods and released OL Aiden Williams from the practice squad.
Other than a small handful of snaps in 2023 and 2024 on defense, Rhattigan has primarily been a special teamer throughout his career. He played 369 special teams snaps last year and was credited with five tackles, four assists, and seven missed tackles. He also had zero penalties.
That is what the Steelers will use him for this week, which was made necessary by Malik Harrison’s knee injury last week, which has him ruled out for this game. Harrison played 16 total snaps on special teams last week, with six on kick return, six on kick coverage, one on punt return, and three on punt coverage. He made two tackles before exiting the game with an injury.
Rhattigan played football at Army and was an undrafted free agent in 2021. At 6003, 236 pounds, he ran a 4.77-second 40-yard dash at his Pro Day with a 32-inch vertical jump and a 7.41-second three-cone drill time.
James Pierre was the team’s lone elevation for Week 1 but was subsequently signed to the active roster.
This is Rhattigan’s first elevation this year, which means the Steelers will be able to elevate him two more times before they need to sign him to the active roster to have him on game day again.
