Steelers sign 3 more players to Reserve/Future contracts

The Pittsburgh Steelers announced on Thursday that they have signed another three players to Reserve/Futures contracts after signing 14 players earlier in the week.

For the most recent round of signings, the Steelers signed three more players who spent at the 2022 season on their practice squad. They are:

RB Anthony McFarland Jr.
LB Chapelle Russell
DT Renell Wren

A fourth-round draft pick by the Steelers in the 2020 NFL draft, Anthony McFarland spent his first two seasons with the Steelers either on the active roster or on injured reserve. In 2022, McFarland spent the entire season on the practice squad where he was elevated for one game against the Indianapolis Colts and had six rushers for 30 yards as well as two receptions on two targets for 11 yards on 21 offensive snaps.

Chapelle Russell was a seventh round draft pick of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the 2020 NFL draft. After appearing in 11 games his rookie season where he was delegated to special teams, Russell spent the 2021 season with the Jacksonville Jaguars appearing in 16 games where he had one start at 18 total tackles. Russell spent the entire 2022 season on the Steelers practice squad.

Drafted by the Cincinnati Bengals in the fourth round of the 2019 NFL draft, Wren appeared in 11 games his rookie season with two starts where he had eight tackles. Spending all of 2020 on the Reserve/Injured List due to a quadriceps injury, Wren landed on the Bengals practice squad in 2021 where he appeared in one game and had one tackle. Signed by the Philadelphia Eagles to start 2022, Wren did not make the 53-man roster but landed in Pittsburgh on their practice squad prior to Week 1. Wren was elevated from the Steelers practice squad for the final two weeks of the season but only played one snap in Week 17.

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

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:

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 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 17 signed players are most likely soon to 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.