The Pittsburgh Steelers want Justin Fields on the field in any way other than as a starting quarterback.
Steelers running back Jaylen Warren told teammate Cameron Heyward that special teams coordinator Danny Smith is toying with the idea of Fields being a kick returner in 2024.
“Our special teams coordinator was talking about Justin Fields being back there,” Warren said on the most recent episode of the “Not Just Football” podcast. “We were like, ‘Hold up! Hold up!’ We looked at him like, ‘Justin Fields is about to be back there?'”
Pittsburgh also has the all-time leading kickoff returner in Cordarrelle Patterson, who has nine kickoff returns for touchdowns.
If the plan is to open up Fields for conventional kickoff returns, the Steelers would be putting him in harm’s way, which could easily end in injury at the most important position in the game.
Russell Wilson and Fields are still expected to compete for the starting quarterback job during training camp.
Fields was acquired via trade from the Bears in exchange for a conditional sixth-round draft choice that becomes a fourth-rounder if he plays 51 percent of snaps.
Having Fields present at kickoffs could affect this stipulation in the trade, although this will depend on the language in the deal, as it could just include offensive snaps.
New kickoff rules might give this option some juice, as opponents now line up at the opponent’s forty-yard line, and they cannot pursue the other team until the ball hits the ground or is touched by an opposing player in the landing zone (20-yard line to the endzone).
Perhaps the Steelers are looking to get Fields’ legs and arms involved in kickoffs.
Fields may be the ideal candidate for some strange backward lateral-type plays, breaking in the new rules the game has established.
In flag football and perhaps in the early days of the NFL, there was a rule known as the “Spot Pass,” under which players who grab the kickoff can stay stationary and throw a forward pass.
We’ve seen variations of this in the NFL, but the ball cannot go forward unless there’s a massive rule change that has slipped through the cracks.
The Philadelphia Eagles attempted something similar in November 2012 when Riley Cooper laid down in the endzone and Brandon Boykin threw him the ball across the field.
The play was called back, and the touchdown was negated due to a forward lateral, but this could be something that Smith would envision doing with Patterson and Fields if executed properly.
Smith was the special teams coordinator for rival Washington when the Eagles attempted this play against the Saints in 2012.
