It’s been a fairly eventful offseason for Pittsburgh Steelers general manager Omar Khan who has continued to make moves to fill out the 2024 roster. Yesterday, the organization brought back former seventh-round selection Tyler Matakevich, listed as a linebacker but is more properly known for his special teams acumen. This wasn’t the first Danny Smith-inspired transaction of the offseason either. Shortly after free agency begin in March, the team brought back Miles Killebrew who was fresh off his first pro-bowl selection for his contributions on special teams. In one of the more interesting moves of the cycle, the Steelers signed Cordarrelle Patterson, the all-time NFL leader in kick return touchdowns.
Of course, signing special teams contributors isn’t necessarily anything new but it’s paramount now more than ever. In one of the more significant rule changes in NFL history, the kickoff rule was amended to bring more excitement to a phase of the game that previously felt dull and lacking purpose. With NFL teams set to embark on a completely new journey, creativity and forward thinking could bring opportunities to gain an edge. For Pittsburgh, currently undergoing significant changes offensively with all signs pointing to them being involved in a plethora of close, low-scoring affairs, this is even more important. This is a chance for them to win the margins.
Sumer Sports director Shawn Syed recently wrote an article which not only contains clarity on the kick off rules but also research from his findings when studying the XFL, which uses a very similar structure. With the landscape shifting, the skill sets of the players involved are changing as well. Historically, we’ve many speedsters on the back line but under these conditions, more natural ball carriers feel like they offer more value. That is where a guy like Patterson comes into play. Originally drafted as a wide receiver, he first found real offensive success as a running back in New England back in 2017. It was then that offensive coordinators finally saw the vision of how he needed to be deployed for maximum effectiveness.
As Syed pointed out, we’re going to see innovative concepts, which mirror what we see offensively, on these returns, not just guys banging into one another at full speed. Having a running back who is familiar with the timing of the plays, how to identify leverage and set up defenders, will be increasingly valuable. Even beyond that, the sheer amount of returns is going to increase by a striking amount. Running backs by nature are used to taking on that sort of punishment via contact and collisions, where are wide receivers aren’t touching the ball more than a handful of plays unless they’re a primary factor on offense. Even then, the types of hits those guys sustain are not comparable to what we see in the box on rushing plays.
That’s where Patterson’s skill set is pretty intriguing for this role, even beyond his laundry list of accolades as a returner. For a converted receiver, his ball carrier vision is much better than you’d expect. He also possesses good size with a north-south running style and is looking to dish out contact on defenders looking to tackle him.
Matakevich plays a key role in this phase as well and despite never cracking a rotation on defense, he’s carved out a nice eight-year career for himself based on his performance on special teams. He’s a four-phase teams guy with nearly 2,800 career snaps in this regard. Even with the rules changing a bit, there’s something to be said for his level of experience and physical approach to the game that leads you to believe that he’s got a decent chance to make the 53-man roster off that alone.
The same could be said for Killebrew, who entered the league during the same year as Matakevich back in 2016. He’s become famous for blocking punts in a timely manner, flipping the script of games in key moments. A key example of this came last year in the team’s first matchup with the Baltimore Ravens. Early in the fourth quarter of a one-score game, Killebrew blocked a punt that eventually turned into a safety and helped spark a comeback against their division rival. Special teams players don’t get a lot of shine but these underrated contributions seem to get lost in the shuffle far too often.
