The Steelers are looking for a little more help from Cordarrelle Patterson next season following a major change to the NFL’s kickoff rules.
The returning man agreed to a two-year, $6 million contract with the Steelers shortly after NFL owners voted to overhaul the league’s kickoff rules. ESPN’s Adam Schefter reports..
Patterson has nine kick return touchdowns in his career since being promoted to the league in 2013, the most in NFL history, three times as many as any other player in the same period. .
The 33-year-old heads to the Steel City already having some acquaintance with offensive coordinator Arthur Smith, who was Atlanta’s head coach for all three seasons with Patterson.
Patterson had a reduced role with the Falcons, where he played from 2021 until last season, but is now looking to help the struggling Steelers make their comeback in 2024.
The Steelers haven’t returned a kick for a touchdown since the 2017 season against the Browns, when JuJu Smith-Schuster gained 96 yards and scored.
Kick returns will be in the spotlight this season as the NFL has made changes to kick returns to mimic the approach the XFL took when it restarted in 2020.
The new rules go into effect this season, with fans required to line up 10 players from the kicking team at the receiving team’s 40-yard line, and at least nine players from the receiving team line up at their own 35-yard line.
The kicker kicks the ball from his own 35-yard line, and the kick must land somewhere between the 20-yard line and the goal line.
Touchbacks are detected at the 30-yard line, and kicks less than 20 yards are detected at the receiving team’s 40-yard line.
“This is going to be brand new for everyone,” New Orleans Saints special teams coordinator Darren Rizzi told reporters in Orlando. Per ESPN. “But the important thing is that we feel it made this play so much more meaningful and, more importantly, safer.”
This rule change is expected to reduce injuries and increase kick returns, which have historically been low, in 2023.
