It feels like it’s been forever since the Pittsburgh Steelers have returned a kickoff for a touchdown. Mostly because it has been forever, the last occurring in 2017 when JuJu Smith-Schuster ran one back 96 yards in the regular-season finale against the Cleveland Browns.
For the past five seasons, the Steelers haven’t found the end zone again. They’ve come close, Steven Sims ran out of gas about 10 yards shy last season, but no one’s crossed over the goal line since Smith-Schuster.
With the NFL reducing the number of kickoffs with its recent “fair catch” rule, allowing return men to fair catch the ball at say, the 1-yard line, and get it at their 25, it’s fair to wonder whether the Steelers will ever make their way back to the end zone.
To be fair to the Steelers, they’re not unique with this drought. Several teams have been waiting longer for their own kick return score. The Cleveland Browns haven’t done it since 2009.
But to a larger and more important point, the Steelers’ return game was lackluster last season. They finished 24th in kick return average with just 21.3 yards per runback, despite Sims’ long return, and an even worse 30th in punt return average at just 5.9.
Since 1994, the only longer drought Pittsburgh had between kick return scores came from 2011 to 2016, a span of six seasons without one, until Smith-Schuster broke it in 2017. If the Steelers can’t find the end zone this year, they’ll have tied that streak.
If there’s an unclear starting spot we’ve barely discussed this offseason, it’s the team’s returners. Gunner Olszewski was signed for that role but quickly replaced after he struggled to secure the football over the first few weeks. Sims brought some spark but faded down the stretch, was non-tendered, and signed with the Houston Texans. Olszewski remains on the roster but is outside-looking-in to make the 53-man roster. There’s Calvin Austin III, whose rookie year lost to foot injuries, but his return resume is surprisingly light. He never returned kicks at Memphis and just a handful of punts, though he did have one wacky touchdown against Mississippi State.
Don’t discount an outside name getting signed a la Ray-Ray McCloud in 2020 but Austin is the current favorite to return kicks and punts. Given the likelihood of there being about 10% fewer returns this season than last, the odds of Pittsburgh finding the end zone diminish all the more. A lack of splash here isn’t killing the team and the NFL is doing its very best to make this part of the game a formality, not a play, but for a Steelers offense that isn’t explosive, a couple of big-time returns would be a huge boost. And if you can put the ball in the end zone on a kick return, your chance of winning goes way up, making 2023 the perfect year to break the team’s current drought.
