New punt returner Switzer brings badly needed skills
did little to earn the punt return job, and the Steelers don’t want Antonio Brown returning anymore. Thus the trade for Switzer, whose seven punt returns for touchdowns in a four-year college career tied for fourthbest ever.
He’ll get his next shot in Heinz Field on Thursday night against the Carolina Panthers. He’ll be returning puntsand kickoffs, mostly behind players who have never beenin a real NFL game.
“He has a good skill set,” special teams coach Danny Smith said. “We’ll see what he does. We’re going to put him to work. He’s a real competitor, he’s a tough kid, he’s gotgreat quickness.”
Unless something unforeseen happens, Switzer will be the Steelers return man in 2018.
“What’s next?” said Switzer, traded twice this year, from Dallas to Oakland to the Steelers. “Get ready for this game Thursday and then set myself up going into Cleveland and trying to have as big an impact on this team as I can. I’m really fortunate to be in this situation I’m in with the talent that’s on this team, the roster and the potential these guys have. I’m excited and look forward to beinga part of that.”
The Steelers can only hope he flashes some of that college punt return ability. They haven’thad that lately.
After Brown returned a punt for a touchdown in three consecutive seasons and four out of five from 201115, they have not had one over the past two. Their average plummeted from 12.8 yards per return in 2013 to 6.9 lastseason when even Brown averaged just 5.5.
Switzer, a fourth-round draft choice by the Cowboys in 2017, averaged 8.8 with one touchdown as a rookie. But the Cowboys traded him to Oakland for defensive lineman Jihad Ward three months ago. The Raiders then traded him to the Steelers three weeks after coach Jon Gruden called him a game-changer as a return manand slot receiver.
“I love Switzer,” Gruden said via the Mercury News in San Jose, Calif., on Aug. 4. “I think he was one of the best puntreturners in college football, perhaps in the history of college football. … Incredible stop-and-start quickness. And he’s a courageous, tough guy. He’s a little guy, but he’s not afraid of playing and going inside, and I like that. He’s got the qualities I’m looking for in a slot receiver.
“He’s a guy that can change the game, I think, on third down. He’s a tough matchup. He’s quick. He has vertical speed. He has special teams ability and we’ll just see if he’s strong enough to be a durable player and last 16 weeks.”
The Steelers acquired Switzer mainly for his return ability, and they can only hope he works out better than the last return man MikeTomlin traded for.
That came in 2007, when they gave up a seventhround draft choice for Allen Rossum. He did return a kickoff for a touchdown but was a failure as a punt returner with a 6.4-yard average and was gone after that season.
“Ultimately, I’m here for a reason,” Switzer said. “I believe that and I’m one step closer to finding the place where I fit in and the place where they’re going to value me and I can be myself.”