Steelers Spent A Mid-Round Pick To Fix One Critical Area And Are Still Waiting For The Return

The Pittsburgh Steelers made an unusually specific investment in April. Fourth-round picks are normally asked to develop into starters, rotational players or at least useful depth. Pittsburgh spent one hoping to manufacture yards that never appear in an offensive play call. Four games later, the investment has been busy, but the payoff that justified making it still has not shown up.

Former Steelers quarterback Charlie Batch believes rookie Kaden Wetjen needs to start creating the field-flipping returns Pittsburgh envisioned when it selected him 121st overall. Wetjen has handled both punts and kickoffs through the first month, yet the explosive element that made him one of college football's most productive returners has disappeared once the games started counting.

The numbers tell a more nuanced story than simply calling Pittsburgh's return game one of the NFL's worst. The Steelers are averaging 9.9 yards per punt return, which currently ranks 14th in the league, so Batch's broad description of Pittsburgh being at the bottom does not fit every return category. Kickoffs are a different story: Pittsburgh's 22.9-yard average ranks 29th. More importantly, the Steelers have not produced a return longer than 27 yards all season.

Wetjen owns almost all of that production. Through four games, he has returned seven punts for 69 yards, averaging 9.9 per attempt with a long of 17. He has added 317 yards on 14 kickoff returns, but his 22.6-yard average comes with a long of only 27 and no touchdowns. That is functional special teams work. Pittsburgh did not use a fourth-round selection hoping for functional.

During a recent discussion on The Snap Count podcast, Batch explained why he believes that distinction matters.

“Someone has to make a play in special teams. That’s where the hidden yardage is at. We’re at the bottom of the league in return yardage. We got to get the punt return going. I know Kaden Wetjen, he is a rookie, but you drafted him for a reason in the fourth round to get that part of the team going, and unfortunately, it’s not happening,” Batch said.

The final sentence gets to the real issue better than the league ranking does. Pittsburgh did not stumble into Wetjen as an undrafted receiver who happened to win the return job. The Steelers deliberately spent premium Day 3 capital on a specialist after watching him average 17.7 yards per punt return and 27.5 yards per kickoff at Iowa, with six combined return touchdowns.

Special Teams Coordinator Danny Crossman called Wetjen Pittsburgh's top-rated dual-return prospect after the draft and predicted his skill set could become a major addition. That was the sales pitch. Wetjen was supposed to steal 15 yards here, flip a possession there and occasionally force an opponent to watch its punt coverage disappear in the rearview mirror.

Pittsburgh actually saw that player before September. Wetjen's preseason breakthrough included a 45-yard punt-return touchdown against the Buffalo Bills, when he reversed field, found the sideline and turned a play that initially looked bottled up into six points. It was exactly the kind of controlled chaos the Steelers believed they were drafting.

The regular season has produced a much quieter version. Wetjen's best punt return is 17 yards. His best kickoff return is 27. He improved against the Cleveland Browns, returning two punts for 30 yards and four kickoffs for 96, but even that night ended without the type of field-position swing Batch is talking about.

Some restraint is necessary here. Returns are not solo events, and Wetjen cannot create a lane that his blockers never provide. Punt direction, hang time, coverage quality and game situation all affect whether a returner even gets a legitimate opportunity. Four games are also an absurdly small sample for deciding whether a rookie's NFL career has validated a draft choice.

But the standard should still be higher than average. If a team spends a fourth-round pick on a return specialist, merely avoiding mistakes is not enough to justify the investment. Pittsburgh could find somebody to catch punts safely much later in the draft, on waivers or after roster cuts. Wetjen was selected where he was because the Steelers believed he could create something most returners cannot.

That is the stronger version of Batch's argument. Pittsburgh does not need Wetjen to score every Sunday or treat each punt like an invitation to run horizontally for 15 seconds. It needs opponents to eventually feel uncomfortable kicking him the football.

Steelers Need Their Specialist To Start Creating Hidden Yardage

Wetjen's college résumé suggests the explosive plays should eventually arrive. He became Iowa's career leader in punt-return average and was dangerous enough on both return units that Pittsburgh believed one roster spot could solve two jobs. His preseason touchdown offered proof that the open-field instincts translated against NFL coverage players. Now the Steelers need the regular-season version.

That does not mean Wetjen has been bad. His 9.9-yard punt-return average is perfectly respectable, and he has protected the football after ball security became a concern during the preseason. The problem is that being respectable was never the reason Pittsburgh made him a fourth-rounder. Drafting a specialist that early is a bet on hidden yardage. Through four weeks, Pittsburgh is still waiting to collect.

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