The Steelers defense is too good for Cordarrelle Patterson to do the job he was paid to do

The Pittsburgh Steelers signed Cordarrelle Patterson as a return kicker; We know this because they said so. He’s arguably a Hall of Fame-level kick returner and one of the best to ever do it. Even at 33 years old, he still has some gas left in the tank, even on offense. There’s just one small problem with the Steelers’ plan for him: their defense is too good.

To recap: The NFL has revised the kickoff rule for the 2024 season, dramatically changing the game. If you’ve seen a game, you know. More specifically, the idea is to get more winnings while making the game safer. Although there have been some positive signs, many, like Patterson, have mixed feelings and response rates remain lower than expected.

Against the Steelers, opposing teams have only scored six goals so far, meaning that, including kickoffs in the first or second half, they have only scored nine total kickoffs in three games. Cordarrelle Patterson was back for all of them, but couldn’t return any of them. Only Jaylen Warren has had a kick return for 13 yards so far this year.

To date, there are only 14 players in the entire NFL who have had more than three kickoff returns in three weeks. Thanks to the cruelty of the Carolina Panthers, Raheem Blackshear already has 12 yards, with a healthy average of 25.8 yards. And of course, Patterson has an average of 0 because he has no chance of returning.

To that end, let me remind you that the Steelers signed Cordarrelle Patterson to a two-year, $6 million contract. The day the league changed the kickoff rule, it wanted to stay ahead of the competition and made that move.

Maybe it would be a huge blessing if the Steelers actually fielded a lot of kickoffs. Finally, there are a lot of kickoffs; 23 kickers have at least 14, including Chris Boswell. But 19 kickers have a touchback rate of over 70 percent, and another eight are at 60 or better. So far there are only seven kickers with at least 10 kickoffs and an average touchback rate of under 60 percent.

So what can a guy like Cordarrelle Patterson do to see some action? Well, lucky for him, he is also capable of playing not only as a running back but also as a 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 yards 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 in depth to make a real impact? So far it doesn’t look likely.

But the Steelers definitely shouldn’t complain; 31 other teams would like to share their problem. Nobody wants to have more than one chance to return a kick per game. The only time other than halftime that you get a kickoff without the other team scoring is when you record a safety, and that doesn’t happen very often. And when the Steelers signed Cordarrelle Patterson, they planned on a great defense, so it’s not like they didn’t know.