Don\u2019t expect to see Cordarrelle Patterson, a former All-Pro, returning kicks for the Steelers this year, one beat writer predicts. Although Patterson is still on the roster, Ray Fittipaldo doesn\u2019t see him earning this role back. He didn\u2019t predict at this time that Patterson won\u2019t make the team, but whether he does or does not, he won\u2019t be back in his old job.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo doubt they\u2019ve got to do a better job with their kick returns\u201d, Fittipaldo said on the North Shore Drive<\/a> podcast. \u201cWe\u2019ve probably seen the last of Cordarrelle Patterson back there. I can\u2019t imagine after last season the Steelers would want to have him back there again. But they do have some options. They\u2019ve got a lot of different guys who can return those kicks\u201d.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n With the NFL changing the kick-return format in a radical way last offseason, the Steelers looked for an edge. They thought that by signing Cordarrelle Patterson, arguably the greatest kick returner in NFL history, they would have a clear advantage<\/a>. What they saw in return, unfortunately, was a 33-year-old struggling to adapt.<\/p>\n In fact, Patterson made his opinion of the new kickoff clear after the season<\/a>. Unless you can find another interpretation for this<\/a>, I don\u2019t think he liked it. And why put an old, losing-steps kick returner back on kick returns in a format he doesn\u2019t like?<\/p>\n Of course, this all begs the question of why Cordarrelle Patterson is on the Steelers\u2019 roster at this point. The team said it signed Patterson as a response to the kick-return rule, and he and they failed there. So why would he still make the team if that job is no longer his?<\/p>\n Patterson is nominally a running back, and he did have a small handful of carries in which he looked like his old self. But the Steelers have Jaylen Warren, rookie Kaleb Johnson, and Kenneth Gainwell at running back. Retaining Patterson, he would be the fourth back, and if he has no special teams role, what does he have?<\/p>\n Well, he has the respect of OC Arthur Smith, under whom he fully made the transition to running back. But Patterson is 34 years old now and doesn\u2019t have the speed and endurance he once had. According to Mark Kaboly, while he attended minicamp, he did not see him participating. He only saw him in the locker room.<\/p>\n