It wasn’t all that long ago when the story of Justin Fields possibly returning kicks for the Pittsburgh Steelers was the big NFL offseason news of the day. While luckily we aren’t talking about that as a real possibility anymore, Cameron Heyward, who hosts the Not Just Football podcast where the rumor started from RB Jaylen Warren, recalled having to “apologize to everybody” after it became a story.
“I had to apologize to Jaylen [Warren]. I had to apologize to Justin Fields. I had to apologize to Danny Smith. Bro, we were obviously kidding. We didn’t expect Jaylen to say it, Jaylen said, ‘I was just messing around, I didn’t think it was gonna be a big deal.’ Everybody ran with it,” Heyward said on the most recent episode of Not Just Football.
Heyward said he felt the need to apologize because he “put Jaylen in a compromising position.”
The idea of Fields returning kicks just didn’t make a whole lot of sense when it was first talked about, and it’s clear there wasn’t much merit to the idea to begin with. The fact that it became a story just made it a distraction, and it makes sense why Heyward apologized to everyone involved.
The thought of Fields returning kicks became such a big story that Madden decided to open its reveal trailer for Madden 25 with Fields returning a kick. The reason why the story picked up so much steam was because it was at least somewhat plausible. With the new kickoff rules, having a dynamic returner is important. Teams will use two returners so there will be someone next to Cordarrelle Patterson for the Steelers. Fields is really good in open space and one of the fastest players on the team, and it could’ve been a way to get him on the field.
But the negatives far outweighed any positives. For one, Fields is a quarterback and would have to basically learn how to field a kickoff. There’s also the injury risk, and it would suck to lose a quarterback, even if Fields is a backup, on a kick return.
Obviously, it’s not anyone’s fault that it became a big story. Warren said it, and neither he nor Heyward clarified it was a joke. There was some plausibility to the claim, so it was something people talked about. Fields was one of the biggest stories during the NFL offseason, so a claim that he could return kicks was going to become a big story in the offseason news cycle. But now, luckily, we’ve moved on and can focus on training camp in two weeks, where we more than likely won’t see Justin Fields lining up alongside Cordarrelle Patterson.
