PITTSBURGH — Six months ago, Stefen Wisniewski's Sundays consisted of spending the afternoon watching the NFL on TV wondering if his phone was ever going to ring. The veteran offensive lineman tried not to fixate on the circumstances that led to him sitting on the couch.

“You try not to drive yourself crazy with the why,” Wisniewski said. “I've kind of learned to not go crazy, trying to figure out why everything is happening.”

So Wisniewski relied on his faith to get him through, optimistic an opportunity would eventually come. It ended up working better than he ever imagined.

And in February, Wisniewski was on the field earning his second Super Bowl ring in three years while starting for the Kansas City Chiefs. This week his nomadic and recently charmed journey through the NFL finally led him home when the Pittsburgh native signed a two-year deal to join the Steelers.

Though the Chiefs expressed interest in keeping the 31-year-old Wisniewski, the opportunity to play for the team he grew up watching was too good to pass up. He'll be vying for a chance to replace the recently retired Ramon Foster at left guard.

“I knew it'd be an open job and that was exciting,” Wisnewski said Friday. “ It's even more exciting because it's not just any starting job, it's a starting job for the Pittsburgh Steelers ... I did have a few other options but it's hard to turn down your hometown team.”

Wisniewski grew up in the Pittsburgh suburbs and remembers scrambling home from church every Sunday during the fall in time for kickoffs to catch his favorite team. He played at Heinz Field in high school and daydreamed of one day joining his father Leo and uncle Stephen in the NFL. Dressing in black-and-gold seemed to be a bridge too far. Both his dad and his uncle spent their entire careers with one team, Leo with the Baltimore Colts, Stephen with the Dallas Cowboys.

Stefen Wisniewski's path has been considerably more winding. He bounced from Oakland to Jacksonville to Philadelphia during his first six seasons, toiling away on clubs that finished with a losing record every year. The streak finally ended in 2017, when he helped anchor an offensive line as the Eagles beat New England in the Super Bowl. Philadelphia, however, declined to pick up his option last spring, making him a free agent.