The Pittsburgh Steelers signed Cordarrelle Patterson in response to the NFL’s new kickoff rule—and he hasn’t returned one yet. Despite the fact that he played in two preseason games, he returned zero kicks—but he did play. During the preseason finale, he even opened the scoring with a breakaway 31-yard touchdown.
While not always in that context, that has been a common sight throughout Patterson’s career, watching him run through a sea of defenders who couldn’t catch him. That is why he has the most kick return touchdowns in NFL history and legitimate offensive contributions.
“I’ve seen that a lot over the last decade or so”, head coach Mike Tomlin said about Cordarrelle Patterson’s long touchdown run in the Steelers’ final preseason game via the team’s website. “Just hadn’t been in a uniform that I’ve been associated with, so it was pretty cool”.
Patterson recorded three rushing attempts in Saturday’s game, totaling 31 yards. He lost two yards on his first attempt, which immediately preceded his 31-yard touchdown. He finished his day with another 2-yard carry on the Steelers’ second possession before checking out.
A former first-round draft pick, Patterson is primarily associated with kick returns, but he does have over 5,000 yards from scrimmage with 38 offensive touchdowns. Just three years ago, he totaled 1,166 yards on offense with 11 touchdowns for Arthur Smith in Atlanta.
Now, the Steelers are not going to ask him to do anything like that. They have Najee Harris and Jaylen Warren at running back, and George Pickens and Van Jefferson at wide receiver, not to mention Pat Freiermuth at tight end. But Patterson can fill in the gaps wherever they need it, and he showed that he still has some speed.
Yet there’s still something amusing about signing someone to do something that you don’t ask him to do. Instead of Patterson returning kicks, Tomlin assigned those duties to John Rhys Plumlee. He returned one kick 38 yards—but he’s no threat to take over the job.
“I know what he’s capable of in that area”, Tomlin said about Patterson’s kick-return ability. “The National Football League knows what he’s capable of in that area. I just wanted to get a look at some others”.
Under the new “dynamic” kickoff, teams tend to line up two players deep for possible returns. The remaining nine players have to line up in a designated zone for blocking. While Patterson has mixed feelings about how the kickoff will work, he should make it fun to watch.
And we might just see him carrying the ball here and there on offense, even catching passes. Patterson can still be effective in a specialized role, especially if the Steelers get their offensive line rolling. He has breakaway speed that Harris and Warren don’t have, even if Warren is quicker than Harris.
