As of January 2015, L’Damian Washington has inked a future/reserve contract with the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Washington spent the regular season working with practice squads in Cleveland, New York, and Miami. After the end of the regular season, practice squad players can be picked up by any team who offers an active contract.

That being said, a future/reserve contract allows a team to lock up a talented member of their practice squad or another team’s practice squad, ensuring they can’t be claimed by another team until the start of training camp.

“NFL teams use futures contracts to claim the rights to players they think will be able to make some noise in the upcoming season.” – Bleacher Report

Teams are allowed to pick up practice squad players as soon as the regular season is over, but the contract will not take effect until the start of the upcoming league year (March 10, 2015).

The Pittsburg Steelers saw marked improvement in the 2014-15 season, achieving their first winning season and playoff berth since 2011. The Steelers won the AFC North division before falling to the Baltimore Ravens 20-17 in the Wild Card Round of the playoffs. The 2014-15 season was a record-setting one for the Steelers, which became the first team in NFL history to have a 4,500-yard passer (Ben Roethlisberger), a 1,500-yard receiver (Antonio Brown), and a 1,300-yard rusher (Le’Veon Bell) in the same season.

The 6’4″, 204-lb. Washington finished his Mizzou career with 100 catches for 1,735 yards (17.4 YPR) and 15 touchdowns.