For wide receiver Dan Chisena, his 2023 season began in Pittsburgh. It might end in the Super Bowl.
Chisena, a deep training camp reserve this summer with the Steelers, is still playing football two weeks after Pittsburgh’s season ended. Bouncing around since being waived at final cutdowns, he was elevated by the Baltimore Ravens for Sunday’s AFC Title Game against the Kansas City Chiefs.
Though listed as a wide receiver, Chisena is primarily a special teams asset. Baltimore’s version of Miles Boykin. The Ravens took the same approach last week, elevating him for the Divisional Round game against the Houston Texans. Chisena logged 16 special teams snaps, making one solo tackle.
Signed by the Steelers on January 23, 2023, the team carried Chisena through training camp. But after re-signing WR Miles Boykin in late April, whatever chance Chisena had of carving out a path to the 53-man roster shriveled up. He saw few reps during training camp with little offensive production. Our post-camp writeup on him was non-descript.
“He had among the fewest reps of anyone at camp. He’s fast, a track star who hardly played football at Penn State, and had one nice sideline grab, but lost out on a couple of other contested chances.
Per our stats, he was targeted just seven times the entirety of camp, catching five of them, and did at least sport a strong 17.2 YPC. But he’s logged only 11 total snaps through two preseason games and shockingly, just three on special teams. His odds are remote.”
Released at final cutdowns, he waited in free agency for a month. The Minnesota Vikings, where he spent time the past three seasons, signed him to their practice squad in October but released him five weeks later. Chisena landed in Arizona, finally seeing the field again. He appeared in four games, including the Cardinals’ upset win over the Steelers, before getting released again, That led him to Baltimore, signed after the regular season ended, but has evidently shown enough in just a handful of practices to be active for the Ravens’ two playoff games.
Chisena entered the league as a track guy, a speedster with size but little football experience at Penn State. Now, a win over the Chiefs will put him in the Super Bowl. It’s a far cry from that dorm room in Latrobe.
