There’s one change to the Pittsburgh Steelers’ latest depth chart. RB Godwin Igwebuike is officially listed as the team’s starting kick returner, replacing Anthony McFarland Jr., now listed as the team’s backup.
The change had already been obvious, Igwebuike serving as the team’s starting kick returner the last several weeks while McFarland has struggled to even get a helmet. Igwebuike’s additional special teams value — he able to play on coverage and return teams unlike McFarland (who is return team only) — has given him the hat.
On the season, Igwebuike has seven kick returns and is averaging 23 yards. He has a long on the year of 36 yards. Signed off the Atlanta Falcons practice squad in September, he served as running back depth while McFarland was on IR with a knee injury following the team’s Week One loss to the San Francisco 49ers. And now he’s passed up McFarland, dressing on gamedays even as McFarland came off IR and is healthy.
Undrafted in 2018, Igwebuike’s most extensive playing time came in 2021 with the Detroit Lions, rushing 18 times and scoring the first and only touchdown in his career. His background as a return man helped bring him to Pittsburgh, Igwebuike seeing extensive time returning kicks with the Lions in 2021 and also seeing time there with the Seattle Seahawks in 2022.
NFL rules have made kick returns less impactful than they used to be. But as the weather turns cold in December, more returns are likely to occur as fewer kicks are booted into or out of the end zone. And the Steelers need all the help they can get in the field-position battle, an area they’ve lost the last several weeks in several phases of special teams.
