Kaden Wetjen wasted no time making noise in his first NFL appearance.
The Steelers rookie showed off the kind of burst that made him such a feared return man in college during Pittsburgh’s 28-9 preseason win over the Green Bay Packers on Thursday night. Wetjen finished with two catches for 79 yards and a touchdown, and his most eye-opening moment came on a 74-yard catch-and-run from fellow rookie Drew Allar.
Wetjen snagged the pass in stride, accelerated into open space and sprinted deep into Green Bay territory. Later, Allar found him again for a five-yard touchdown.
That debut was enough to get ESPN college football analyst Kirk Herbstreit talking on The Pat McAfee Show.
“Kaden Wetjen out of Iowa is a freak,” Herbstreit said. “I’m excited to see what the Steelers are gonna be able to do this year.”
The performance added a new layer to Wetjen’s profile in Pittsburgh. The Steelers took him with the 121st overall pick in the fourth round of the 2026 NFL Draft, and the appeal was clear: special teams. He was considered one of the draft’s top return specialists, but his receiving production at Iowa left some questions about how much he could offer on offense.
Thursday night made that conversation a lot more interesting.
Wetjen also handled return duties against Green Bay, piling up three kickoff returns for 61 yards and two punt returns for 10 yards. That fits the résumé he built at Iowa, where he became the first two-time winner of the Jet Award, earned consensus All-American honors in 2025 and led the nation in kickoff-return yardage while averaging 26.8 yards per punt return.
He even found the end zone in every possible way during his final college season, scoring as a rusher, receiver and on both kickoff and punt returns.
For a Steelers team looking to improve its return game, that alone made Wetjen a strong fit. But if Thursday was any indication, his value may stretch well beyond special teams.
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