Struggling Wide Receiver to Try with Another Team

Dez Fitzpatrick, a fourth-round pick out of Louisville in 2021, signs with the Pittsburgh Steelers after two unproductive seasons.

Andrew Nelles / Tennessean.com / USA Today Network

Dez Fitzpatrick is getting a fresh start.

Having provided the Tennessee Titans will little return on their investment in him – a fourth-round pick in the 2021 NFL Draft – the wide receiver out of Louisville has signed a futures contract with the Pittsburgh Steelers. Futures contracts are for the upcoming season and take effect on the first day of the new league year. The 2023 league year begins at 3 p.m. (Central) on March 15.

Fitzpatrick holds something of a dubious distinction in recent franchise history. He was the highest of former general manager Jon Robinson’s draft picks not to make the season-opening roster as a rookie.

This year, he was named one of the Titans’ 2022 offseason MVPs, which raised expectations for what he might accomplish, but once again failed to make the season-opening roster. Coach Mike Vrabel cited a need for him to be better as a blocker and in contested catches when that decision was made.

The result was that Fitzpatrick spent most of his first two NFL seasons on Tennessee’s practice squad. He appeared in just five games and caught five passes for 49 yards in one touchdown. Among 35 wide receivers drafted in 2021, only 10 have fewer career receptions.

The Titans wanted Fitzpatrick badly enough that they traded with the Carolina Panthers to move up 17 spots and select him 109th overall in 2021. Tennessee gave up a fifth, a sixth and a seventh-round selection to make that move, and the Panthers used the first of those picks to select running back Chuba Hubbard, their second-leading rusher this season.

In signing with Pittsburgh, Fitzpatrick becomes the second of Tennessee’s eight 2021 draft picks to move on to another franchise. Safety Brady Breeze, a sixth-round pick, wad claimed off waivers by the Detroit Lions last December when the Titans released him.