![\"bet365](\"https:\/\/www.bleachernation.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/Justin-Fields-1024x508.jpg\")
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Now that the NFL Draft is one week in our rearview mirror, we\u2019re hitting the part of the offseason where weird football stories pop up on our radar.<\/p>\n
And I\u2019m not sure anything will be weirder than this clip from Pittsburgh Steelers running back Jaylen Warren sharing that Special Teams Coordinator David Smith has discussed using Justin Fields as a kick returner. Yes, we\u2019re talking about former Chicago Bears quarterback Justin Fields. And yes, we\u2019re talking about a Pittsburgh Steelers franchise (which traded for Fields earlier in the offseason) that is held in high regard and is seen as a gold-standard football organization. Is it weird enough for you yet?<\/p>\n
How did this even come up? Let\u2019s start with some context. The idea popped up while Jaylen Warren was on teammate Cam Heyward\u2019s podcast answering a question whether he would like to return kicks in 2024. Warren started his answer by saying that he would, which got a lukewarm response from the crowd in attendance (probably because those fans don\u2019t want to risk the team\u2019s best running back getting injured on special teams). Then, Warren dropped the Fields nugget.\u00a0Here is the clip:<\/p>\n \u201cI would, I think it\u2019s pretty cool \u2014 as soon as you touch the ball that\u2019s when everything starts to happen. But our special teams coordinator was talking about Justin Fields being back there. We\u2019re like hold on \u2026 We looked at him like, Justin Fields is about to be back there? And, I don\u2019t know, I think it\u2019s cool.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n This is where I would usually put a witty retort about the quote above. But I\u2019ve got nothing. Justin Fields returning kicks feels kin to putting the most obscure abstract piece of art in the middle of your living room just to get a reaction while acting like you\u2019re not doing so because all you seek is a reaction.<\/p>\n I bet Fields\u2019 agent isn\u2019t too thrilled about this development, especially since he\u2019ll be marketing his client as a quarterback next offseason when the QB draft class is underwhelming.<\/p>\n On the one hand this is pretty nuts. Justin Fields is a quarterback. Yes, he runs with power, speed, and grace. But using him in kick returns feels like an attempt at making \u201cfetch\u201d happen. And I\u2019m sorry, but you\u2019re not going to make \u201cfetch\u201d happen,\u00a0 With that being said, the Steelers signed Cordarrelle Patterson earlier in the offseason. Heck, the signing came shortly after the new kick return rules were given the green light by the league. It was almost as if the powers that be in Pittsburgh saw the new rules and immediately came to the conclusion that Patterson is an ideal fit for what that special teams out fit wants to do. I can\u2019t say I blame \u2019em. Patterson is one of the greatest kick returners of all time. And now that Devin Hester has broken down the Hall of Famer barrier, we could see a day in which one former Bear follows another into Canton.<\/p>\n In other words, signing Patterson only to use Fields in that spot feels galaxy-brained.<\/p>\n At the end of the day, I\u2019m just rooting for Justin Fields to play 51 percent of the team\u2019s snaps at quarterback so the sixth-round pick Pittsburgh is sending to Chicago\u00a0can turn into a fourth-rounder. Beyond that, I won\u2019t care too much.\u00a0The Bears have Caleb Williams, a cool new quarterback to obsess over these days and I\u2019d rather spend more time discussing his future than what is happening with signal callers of the past.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Now that the NFL Draft is one week in our rearview mirror, we\u2019re hitting the part of the offseason where weird football stories pop up on our… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":116314,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-116312","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nfl"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mlbhi.aweu.info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116312","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mlbhi.aweu.info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mlbhi.aweu.info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mlbhi.aweu.info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mlbhi.aweu.info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=116312"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mlbhi.aweu.info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116312\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":116315,"href":"https:\/\/mlbhi.aweu.info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116312\/revisions\/116315"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mlbhi.aweu.info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/116314"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mlbhi.aweu.info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=116312"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mlbhi.aweu.info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=116312"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mlbhi.aweu.info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=116312"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Justin Fields in a kick return role is weird for the sake of weird<\/h2>\n
Gretchen Wieners<\/s>\u00a0Danny Smith. But on the other hand, I admire the creativity of a coach who is trying to find a use for every player on the roster. Maybe studying the new kick return rules led the Steelers special teams coordinator to think about using Fields this way. Sure, it\u2019s crazy. But sometimes crazy works in the NFL.<\/p>\n![\"Justin](\"https:\/\/www.bleachernation.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/fields-feat-GettyImages-1347536439.jpg\")
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