NFL
Within the wake of a large change to the NFL’s kickoff rule, the Steelers are turning to Cordarrelle Patterson for a bit of further assist subsequent season.
The return man agreed to a two-year, $6 million cope with the Steelers shortly after NFL house owners voted to overtake the league’s kickoff rule, ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported.
Patterson is the NFL’s all-time chief in kick return touchdowns with 9 over the course of his profession since he made it to the league in 2013 and that quantity is 3 times as many as another participant in that timespan.
The 33-year-old heads to the Metal Metropolis already with some familiarity with offensive coordinator Arthur Smith, who was the pinnacle coach with Atlanta for all three seasons Patterson was there.
Patterson had been pushed right into a decreased function with the Falcons, who he performed for from 2021 via final season, and now appears to spice up the Steelers’ struggling return recreation in 2024.
The Steelers haven’t had a kick returned for a landing for the reason that 2017 season in opposition to the Browns when JuJu Smith-Schuster went 96 yards for a rating.
Kick returns will probably be underneath the highlight this upcoming season after the NFL modified them to be able to mimic the strategy the XFL had put in place when it relaunched in 2020.
The brand new rule will go into impact this season and followers will see 10 gamers on the kicking workforce line up on the receiving workforce’s 40-yard line and the receiving workforce may have a minimum of 9 gamers lineup on their very own 35-yard line.
The kicker will kick the ball from his personal 35-yard line and the kick should land someplace in between the 20-yard line and the purpose line.
A touchback will probably be noticed on the 30-yard line and a kick that falls wanting the 20 will probably be positioned on the receiving workforce’s 40-yard line.
“That is going to be model new to everyone,” New Orleans Saints particular groups coordinator Darren Rizzi informed reporters in Orlando, per ESPN. “However the massive factor is we really feel we’ve made this play extraordinarily related and, extra importantly, rather a lot safer.”
The rule change is anticipated to assist convey accidents down and improve kick returns, which had been at a traditionally low fee in 2023.
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