Steelers sign a wide receiver to a Reserve/Future contract

The Pittsburgh Steelers continue to add players to their offseason roster.

The Pittsburgh Steelers announced on Monday that they have signed another wide receiver to Reserve/Futures contracts after signing 17 players more than a week ago.

For the most recent signing, the Steelers signed wide receiver Dan Chisena. Undrafted out of Penn State in 2000, Chisena signed with the Minnesota Vikings following the draft. Making the roster to start the season, Chisena played 14 games as a rookie all on special teams. In 2001, Chisena was placed on the Reserve/Injured List to start the season but joined the active roster in October where he played 11 games with 11 offensive snaps compared to 213 snaps on special teams. In 2022, Chisena was on the Vikings practice squad and was elevated in Week 5 and Week 9 where he played a total of 24 special team snaps. In his three seasons in the NFL, Chisena has played nearly 500 special team snaps with 11 tackles and a fumble recovery.

On Thursday, January 12, the Steelers added three players from their 2022 practice squad. Those players were:

RB Anthony McFarland Jr.
LB Chapelle Russell
DT Renell Wren

From signings on Wednesday, January 11, all four players came from outside the Steelers organization as they have spent time with other NFL teams but not in Pittsburgh. Those players were:

WR Dez Fitzpatrick
DB Madre Harper
DB Kenny Robinson
DB Chris Wilcox

These are the 10 players, all of whom spent at least some time with the Steelers practice squad in 2022, who signed Tuesday, January 10:

WR Ja’Marcus Bradley
DB Duke Dawson
G William Dunkle
LB Emeke Egbule
RB Jason Huntley
C Ryan McCollum
DB Scott Nelson
RB Master Teague
WR Cody White
TE Rodney Williams

A Reserve/Future contract is when a player did not finish the year on a team’s 53-man roster and can sign with them or another team during the offseason. The reason it is considered to be a “future” contract is because it does not come into effect until the beginning of the new league year on March 15.

While the Steelers have 17+X players signed to futures contracts, there are still four players who finished the 2022 season on the Steelers practice squad who are not signed at this time. These players include:

DT Carlos Davis
CB Mark Gilbert
OL John Leglue
DE Mike Tafua

With the Steelers offseason rolling into effect, these 18 signed players may soon have others joining the list in making up the Steelers 2023 offseason roster.

Stay tuned to Behind The Steel Curtain for continued coverage of the Pittsburgh Steelers throughout the entire 2023 offseason.