Denver Broncos cornerback Pat Surtain has made it clear that he would like to contribute on special teams, and special teams coordinator Ben Kotwica granted PS2’s request last week.
Surtain was used as a blocker on a punt return against the Pittsburgh Steelers (and he was penalized for holding). Will we see Surtain on special teams again this season?
“[It was] a package that we had,” Kotwica said Thursday. “So you’re just employing and putting people in different positions. On that particular play, we just had a different package in there. We may see that moving forward.
“Obviously, Pat has a lot of responsibility on the defensive side of the ball. The cool thing about Pat is that’s something that he likes to do. He wants to be a part of something bigger. We’ve had a pretty good punt return unit that past year, so he wanted to be a part of it.”
Surtain might want to do it, but the Broncos should not oblige him. The star cornerback is way too valuable on every play on defense to risk an injury on punt returns. It’s great to see that Surtain is willing to help out anywhere he can, but the reward does not outweigh the risk for such a key player.
