The Pittsburgh Steelers have released running back and kick returner Cordarrelle Patterson. It officially ends a one-year experiment on Patterson, who signed to a two-year contract ahead of the 2024 season. Patterson broke the news himself, noting the announcement came Monday during the players’ off day.
Sarcastically, he referred to himself as “old washed up Cordarrelle Patterson” in the tweet.
It’s an unsurprising move given Patterson’s 2024 struggles and the Steelers’ offseason additions of Kenneth Gainwell and Kaleb Johnson.
During the first four days of training camp, Patterson failed to practice with the team. Mike Tomlin referred to it as a minor injury, but Patterson wasn’t spotted on the field and the writing seemed on the wall for his inevitable release.
Patterson was set to earn a base salary of $2.8M in 2025. The Steelers will save that amount minus top-51 roster displacement costs in 2025 cap space, according to our Dave Bryan. Patterson has a $950,000 dead money charge in 2025, per Bryan.
Hampered by injury heading into training camp, Patterson began the 2024 summer on the NFI (non-football injury) list. Activated late in the preseason, Mike Tomlin opted against using him on returns until the regular season. Patterson briefly shined early in the year with an impressive half against the Indianapolis Colts in Week 4 before suffering an ankle injury and missing the next month. Looking even less explosive the rest of the year, he didn’t receive his first kick return until November and proved to be ineffective.
Patterson finished last season with 32 carries for 135 yards and zero touchdowns while catching 12 passes for 80 yards and one score, an impressive contested catch against new Steelers ILB Malik Harrison in a loss to the Baltimore Ravens.
Sitting atop the Steelers’ running back depth chart are Jaylen Warren, Kenneth Gainwell, and Kaleb Johnson. Other running backs on the team’s 90-man roster include Trey Sermon and Evan Hull. Pittsburgh now has an open roster spot it will presumably quickly fill before Tuesday’s first padded training camp practice.
