{"id":318507,"date":"2026-10-31T21:04:10","date_gmt":"2026-10-31T21:04:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/318507\/"},"modified":"2026-10-31T21:04:10","modified_gmt":"2026-10-31T21:04:10","slug":"steelers-sign-wr-with-ties-to-aaron-rodgers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/318507\/","title":{"rendered":"Steelers Sign WR with Ties to Aaron Rodgers"},"content":{"rendered":"

Steelers News<\/a>\u2022Steelers Transactions<\/a><\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\"NFL:Credit: IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

The Pittsburgh Steelers have signed wide receiver Brandon Smith<\/a> from their practice squad to their 53-man roster<\/a>, the team announced on Saturday<\/p>\n

Smith had been a practice squad elevation for each of the last three games, as the team has dealt with a rash of injuries at the wide receiver position. NFL players can only be elevated from the practice squad three times in a season before they must be signed to a team\u2019s 53-man roster.<\/p>\n

Over the last three weeks, Smith has played a total of 86 offensive snaps. He was not targeted in the passing game until last week, when he caught both of his targets from Aaron Rodgers<\/a> for 24 yards.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s also played 27 snaps of special teams and has made one tackle.<\/p>\n

The Steelers will once again be without starting wide receivers Michael Pittman Jr.<\/a> and Roman Wilson<\/a>, who remain on injured reserve. Backup Ben Skowronek<\/a>, who has missed the last two games, is questionable to return. He was limited in practice all week with a calf injury.<\/p>\n

\"BrandonNew York Jets wide receiver Brandon Smith (87) celebrates after winning the game against the Cincinnati Bengals at Paycor Stadium in Cincinnati, Ohio on Oct 26, 2025. \u2014 Katie Stratman\/Imagn ImagesCredit: Katie Stratman \/ USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images<\/p>\n

Smith, 27, was originally an undrafted free agent of the Dallas Cowboys coming out of Iowa in 2021. He also spent time with the Arizona Cardinals, New York Jets and New England Patriots at the NFL level and the DC Defenders of the XFL before joining the Steelers this January.<\/p>\n

Smith played in three games with the Jets in 2024 and 2025 without catching a pass, sharing a locker room Rodgers in 2024.<\/p>\n

\u201cI knew him from my time in New York. When I saw him last year, he looked like he dropped about 10 pounds,\u201d Rodgers said this summer. \u201cHe was humongous, just super strong and ripped, and he looks a little leaner. I feel like he\u2019s moving better. I\u2019m really proud of him. He\u2019s a phenomenal guy and he\u2019s really smart, but he\u2019s also got some craft to his game, and I think you saw that the other night.\u201d<\/p>\n

Smith received praise from the four-time NFL MVP after the team\u2019s Week 5 win over the Indianapolis Colts.<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cWell, B-Smith hasn\u2019t taken a ton of offensive reps. I\u2019ve been around him for a few years. He was with us in New York, and always enjoyed him being on the field and his ability. I think he\u2019s a talented guy,\u201d Rodgers said.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut we can play in 12 (personnel) all day long, and if we need to, we will. But I was really proud of Germ the way he stepped in. There were a couple of plays with B-Smith. Like we had this play we\u2019re running inside zone, and we have this short motion to block the safety. Just by the end of the week it was just assumed that motion. I wasn\u2019t even calling it. I looked over, and I was, like, \u2018Oh, B has probably never done this.\u2019 I was, like, \u2018Hey.\u2019 He didn\u2019t know what I was thinking.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo we were kind of making it up a little bit as we went there, but I\u2019m proud of B-Smith. He\u2019s a smart guy and knows his stuff, and he\u2019ll be ready to take on a bigger role this week, I\u2019m sure.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Steelers had a vacant spot on their 53-man active roster after placing defensive lineman Sebastian Joseph-Day<\/a> on injured reserve last week. In addition to signing Smith to the roster, fellow wide receiver Brandon Johnson<\/a> was elevated from the practice squad on Saturday. That is Johnson\u2019s third elevation this season.<\/p>\n

Chris Ward contributed.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tMentioned In This Article:Aaron Rodgers<\/a> Brandon Smith<\/a> Pittsburgh Steelers<\/a> Steelers<\/a> Steelers News<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Steelers News\u2022Steelers Transactions Credit: IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect The Pittsburgh Steelers have signed wide receiver Brandon Smith…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":318508,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[3269,128179,73,75,74,1833,1829,22891],"class_list":["post-318507","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-pittsburgh","tag-aaron-rodgers","tag-brandon-smith","tag-pittsburgh","tag-pittsburgh-headlines","tag-pittsburgh-news","tag-pittsburgh-steelers","tag-steelers","tag-steelers-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/318507","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=318507"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/318507\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/318508"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=318507"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=318507"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=318507"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}