When you look up "return specialist" in a football lexicon, there is most likely a picture of Iowa's Kaden Wetjen.
After beginning his college football career at Iowa Western Community College, the Williamsburg, Iowa, native took the college football world by storm, electrifying stadiums with his elite return abilities.
It took him a few years to make an impact, but once he fully committed to the return specialist role, there was none better than Wetjen. After four successful seasons in Iowa City, Pittsburgh selected him No. 121 overall in the 2026 NFL Draft, and now he is even generating some All-Pro conversations.
CBS Sports analyst Emory Hunt believes Wetjen can earn All-Pro honors
Wetjen showed flashes during the 2023 season, but fully burst onto the scene in 2024 and never looked back.
He became the only two-time Jet Award (2024, 2025), given to the nation's best return specialist, racking up 954 career punt return yards and four touchdowns, and 1,538 career kick return yards and two touchdowns in his career.
Wetjen's six total return touchdowns are an Iowa program record.
Now a little under a month after the 2026 NFL Draft, Wetjen is starting to generate more buzz.
CBS Sports and NFL Draft analyst Emory Hunt, known as the "Czar of the Playbook" spoke to Ross Tucker on Tucker's NFL Draft podcast, and he likes Wetjen to earn All-Pro honors.
Hunt told Tucker that Wetjen is "instantly" the starting kick and punt returner for the Pittsburgh Steelers next season, and he's probably going to earn All-Pro in that regard, while developing as a slot receiver.
That is high praise from one of the best in the business, and proves that Wetjen is already turning heads before he plays his first NFL game.
Wetjen instantly gives the Steelers a weapon in the return game
The Steelers have to be convinced that Wetjen will make an immediate impact, or they just took a massive leap of faith on a player who is primarily a return specialist.
Iowa's passing-game inefficiencies are well-documented, and Wetjen could easily have fallen victim to them.
Wetjen has elite speed, ball-carrying, and vision, perfect for a return specialist, and those tools can also carry over into the passing game.
In the immediate future, Wetjen addresses many of the problems that plagued the Steelers' special teams unit last season and in the past, and the organization can rest easy with him as the lead returner on punts and kicks.
During his Iowa career, Wetjen averaged 27.5 kick return yards and 17.7 punt return yards per attempt. In stark contrast, the Steelers averaged a meager 8.8 yards per punt return last season.
This is not to say that Wetjen can't help the Steelers' passing attack next season, but his true value is in the return game.
The Steelers love drafting Hawkeyes, and took a chance on Wetjen as a savior for their awful return game. They addressed a clear need, and they brought in one of the best to ever do it to solve the problem.
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