If this football thing doesn’t work out for Cordarrelle Patterson, he might want to consider becoming an NFL insider.
While players like Jalen Ramsey and Quandre Diggs have previously taken to social media in recent years to scoop the Adam Schefters and the Ian Rapoports of the world, Patterson joined the club this week with a less glamorous announcement. On Monday, he took to X to announce that he’d been released, on his day off, no less.
Breaking news❗️❗️❗️Pittsburgh Steelers release old washed up cordarrelle patterson on his day off!!!
— cordarrelle patterson (@ceeflashpee84) July 28, 2025
The move wasn’t entirely shocking. Pittsburgh signed the 34-year-old return specialist last offseason to take advantage of the NFL’s new kickoff rules, which were supposed to make that part of the game exciting again. On paper, Patterson — a four-time All-Pro and arguably the greatest return man of his era — made perfect sense.
But since there wasn’t a path for him on the depth chart, and he only returned 11 kicks in 2024, his $2.8 million price tag no longer made sense. Jaylen Warren is entrenched in the backfield. So are Kenneth Gainwell, Trey Sermon, and Kaleb Johnson. And the Steelers are already deep at receiver as is.
Patterson became more of a luxury than a necessity.
It’s not like Patterson was coming off a banner year. Limited by a midseason ankle injury, he played in 13 games last season and had just 135 rushing yards on 32 carries. He added 80 yards and a touchdown on 12 receptions. His impact on special teams — his bread and butter — was also limited: just 11 kick returns for 240 yards in 2024. That was his second-lowest total since entering the league, behind only his 153-yard showing in 2023.
He hadn’t participated in any of the team’s offseason activities, nor had he suited up for any of the first four practices of training camp, according to ESPN’s Brooke Pryor.
Still, he’s Cordarrelle Patterson. A player with nine career return touchdowns, eight kickoff scores, and 10,000+ all-purpose yards. He’s been named first-team All-Pro four times as a return man, and in a league where special teams units take injury hits every August, it wouldn’t be surprising if someone takes a flier.
If this is the end, though, then one of the NFL’s most electric return men walks away without much fanfare. But at least he got to break the story himself.
About Sam Neumann
Since the beginning of 2023, Sam has been a staff writer for Awful Announcing and The Comeback. A 2021 graduate of Temple University, Sam is a Charlotte native, who currently calls Greenville, South Carolina his home. He also has a love/hate relationship with the New York Mets and Jets.