Former first-round pick Paxton Lynch was signed to the Pittsburgh Steelers practice squad on Tuesday.
The Steelers are in need of depth at quarterback with Ben Roethlisberger headed to elbow surgery and injured reserve. Mason Rudolph was elevated from backup to starter but Pittsburgh had only two quarterbacks on the roster, having traded Joshua Dobbs to the Jacksonville Jaguars last week. The Steelers drafted Rudolph, from Oklahoma State, in the third round of the 2018 NFL Draft.
For now, Rudolph will be backed up by undrafted Devlin Hodges, who was promoted from the practice squad. Hodges, 23, played college football at Samford.
Rudolph will make his first career start Sunday at San Francisco. He completed 12 of 19 passes in Week 2, falling just short in a comeback bid against the Seattle Seahawks.
Lynch spent training camp with the Seahawks. He was a first-round pick of the Denver Broncos in 2016 out of Memphis.
