The Pittsburgh Steelers signed Cordarrelle Patterson to return kicks; we know this because they said as much. Arguably a Hall of Fame-level kick returner, he is one of the best to ever do it. Even at 33 years old, he still has some gas left in his tank, including on offense. There’s only one small problem with the Steelers’ plan for him: their defense is too good.
To quickly recap, the NFL revised the kickoff rule for the 2024 season, dramatically changing the play. If you’ve seen a game, you know. Boiling it down further, the idea is to promote more returns while making the play safer. While there have been some positive signs, many, like Patterson, have mixed feelings, and return rates remain lower than expected.
Opposing teams have only scored six times so far against the Steelers, which, including first- or second-half kickoffs, means they have only fielded nine kickoffs in total through three games. Cordarrelle Patterson has been back to return for all of them, but he has not been able to return any. Only Jaylen Warren has one kick return, for 13 yards, on the year so far.
Throughout the NFL thus far, there are only 14 players who have more than three kickoff returns through three weeks. By benefit of the Carolina Panthers being atrocious, Raheem Blackshear already has 12, with a healthy 25.8-yard average. And Patterson, of course, is averaging 0 because he isn’t getting any chances to return.
The Steelers, I will remind you, signed Cordarrelle Patterson to a two-year, $6 million contract for this purpose. On the day the league changed the kickoff rule, they wanted to get ahead of the curve and made this move.
Maybe it would prove to be a tremendous boon if the Steelers actually fielded many kickoffs. After all, there are plenty of kickoffs; 23 kickers have at least 14, including Chris Boswell. But 19 kickers are posting a touchback rate north of 70 percent, with another eight at 60 or better. There are only seven kickers with at least 10 kickoffs averaging under a 60-percent touchback rate so far.
So what’s a guy like Cordarrelle Patterson to do to see some action? Well, fortunately for him, he is also capable of playing not only running back but also wide receiver. The Steelers needed him to do both last week, and he did his part. He caught three passes for 15 yards and rushed for 33 on four attempts.
With Jaylen Warren missing Sunday’s game against the Indianapolis Colts, the Steelers will need Patterson in the backfield. But will they need him back deep to return an actual kickoff? So far, it’s not looking likely.
But the Steelers certainly shouldn’t complain; 31 other teams would love to share their problem. Nobody wants to have more than one shot at returning a kick per game. The only time other than at halves that you receive a kickoff without the other team scoring is when you record a safety, and those are not exactly common. And the Steelers planned for the defense to be great when they signed Cordarrelle Patterson, so it’s not like they didn’t know.
