A continued glaring hole over the years for the Pittsburgh Steelers is special teams. Specifically, a consistent punter and a dependable Steelers return man.
They haven’t found success since the days of Antwann Randle El and Antonio Brown. Recently, it’s been a revolving door of Steelers return, man.
This is due to poor play and inconsistency, but also letting guys go when the return game looks good.
To limit AB’s return man duties, the Steelers traded for Ryan Switzer from the Cowboys, who had success as a return specialist in college at North Carolina and his lone season with the Cowboys, claiming his only return touchdown.
As the primary Steelers returned the man in 2018, Switzer collected 859 return yards on 60 attempts. He would not follow in 2019 due to injuries, when a rookie Diontae Johnson stepped in, and he made the Pro Bowl as the Steeler’s return man, precisely as their punt returner.
During that same year, RB Kerrith Whyte played the kick return man duties, but that was short-lived.
We move to 2020, and the Steelers signed Ray-Ray McCloud toward the end of training camp. He took Switzer’s role as the Steelers return man in less than two weeks without preseason.
In 2020, Ray-Ray McCloud gained 944 return yards on 57 return attempts. Indeed an upgrade, and he would follow in 2021 with 1’143 return yards on 73 return attempts, including leading the league in punt return yardage.
Ray-Ray would sign with the San Francisco 49ers in free agency, and although no touchdowns scored in his two years as the Steelers return man, there was a giant spark.
Steelers would sign former Patriots return man and first team all pro punt return specialist in 2020, Gunner Olszewski, to replace McCloud. All good credentials to sign the guy.
This would not translate early into the 2022 season, and his two fumbles would limit his role and make him lose his return duties to Steven Sims, who was signed to the Steelers practice squad the year prior.
Although similarly inconsistent and reoccurring muffing issues, Sims was better than Gunner. Five hundred thirty-nine return yards on 36 return attempts, including a long 89-kickoff return, the longest for the Steelers in a couple of years.
Sims signed with the Houston Texans just recently, and now the questions echos again; who’s the Steelers return man?
Currently, it appears Gunner Olszewski has his return duties back, but not without some form of competition. There is still some buzz around the Steelers 4th round pick, Calvin Austin III, last year.
CA3 did not play last year due to injury, so the desire to see the speedster is much greater. Calvin only played punt return duties in his first and third years in Memphis, finding success and having a return TD each year.
He has the speed and the experience, and this is a great way to get his feet wet. Steelers see a lot in him and could gamble on him and Gunner to battle it out for the Steelers to return man duties. Gunner could return to his 2020 status and play it well in a contract year. Calvin Austin could live up to his speed and confident expectation.
Another guy the Steelers still like is another former 4th-round pick Anthony McFarland. He probably has a better chance at winning the 3rd RB spot behind Najee Harris and Jaylen Warren than he does winning a return man job. Still, I think the Steelers will insert him in the competition if they plan to gamble on the current roster to fill the role of the Steelers return man.
Gambling on their roster has put the Steelers in challenging positions that they’re still in. There aren’t many options in free agency, and the Steelers will probably draft a wide receiver at some point.
They could draft someone to fill a role on offense and get their feet wet in special teams, similar to what they might be doing with Calvin Austin III.
It’s also possible they snag an undrafted free agent to come in and compete to be the Steelers return man. The Steelers have options to fill the void at return specialist.
There will undoubtedly be a training camp battle for the Steelers primary return specialist. It’s a matter of who will all be involved.