Every time Ryan Switzer steps between the white lines, he says he does so with one thought in mind.
"Man, I try to be the best player on the field, regardless of who's out there," the Steelers' new return specialist told DKPittsburghSports.com Monday at the Rooney Complex.
That might be a bit of a challenge this week when the Steelers host Tyreek Hill and the Chiefs at Heinz Field. Switzer -- or anyone -- would be hard-pressed to better Hill, a Pro Bowl selection each of his first two seasons in the league.
What's not to like about Hill's game? He's a game-breaker every time he touches the ball. He led the league in punt return average (15.2) as a rookie in 2016 and is widely considered to be the best, if not most exciting, in the business.
"He's easily the fastest person on the field. Easily," said Switzer, who got a close-up look at Hill's act last season while playing for the Cowboys.
On Monday, Switzer was reminded yet again of Hill's explosive talent when he and his teammates watched film of Hill's Week 1 performance against the Chargers. Just 2:26 into the Chiefs' 38-28 win, Hill took a punt 91 yards for a touchdown.
But that's not what Switzer envied most. Hill later added a pair of touchdown receptions, including a 58-yarder.
"What he doesn't get a lot of credit for, or at least enough credit for, is the way he's progressed as a receiver," Switzer was saying. "He had a good game offensively this week, but the strides that he's made since he's been in the league as a receiver have been huge because a lot of people just thought of him as a returner first."
Switzer was talking about Hill, obviously, but he might have been talking about himself — or he'd soon like to.
When the Steelers acquired Switzer from Oakland, along with a 2019 sixth-rounder, for the Steelers' fifth-round pick in the 2019 draft, it was almost assumed that he would fill a hole by handling both kickoffs and punts exclusively.
He did just that in Sunday's massively disappointing 21-21 tie at Cleveland. But that's not all he did.
On the Steelers' second possession of the game, on a second-and-9 from the Pittsburgh 43, Switzer lined up in the slot and Ben Roethlisberger fired a short 3-yard pass his way, but the ball -- which had just been put into play in Sunday's torrential rains -- bounced off Switzer's chest as Cleveland linebacker Christian Kirksey broke up the play.
In all, Switzer played seven snaps on offense, which was four snaps fewer than James Washington — the Steelers' second-round (60th overall) pick this spring was surprisingly a non-factor on offense.
In addition to his target, Switzer lined up in the backfield early in the second quarter and even had this nice 8-yard carry early in the second half:
"They didn't just bring me here to be a returner," said the 23-year-old, who had six receptions for 41 yards last season as a rookie with the Cowboys. "I'm trying to pick up the offense as quick as I can. I felt like I knew what I was doing, had a good grasp of the game plan.
"It's something I can definitely build off, for sure."
Whether Switzer will continue to line up as a receiver will likely depend on the opponent, down and distance and, most importantly, whether he can earn the trust of Roethlisberger. A dropped pass isn't a great start but Mike Tomlin deemed Switzer's performance "encouraging."
Switzer's Steelers debut as a kick and punt returner wasn't great but it was plenty good. It was certainly better than what they had been getting. Last season the Steelers ranked 18th in kickoff returns (21.1 yards) and 15th in punt returns (7.7).
On Sunday, he returned three kickoffs for 69 yards (23.0 per), including this 28-yard effort with 10:15 to go in the third quarter:
He also had five punt returns for an average of 11.2, including this 22-yarder in the first quarter:
And he was able to do that while playing in less than ideal conditions on the slippery track at FirstEnergy Stadium.
"It was really wet, my shoes started filling up with water," Switzer said. "The turf started getting torn up a little bit, but that's football. We're professionals. We're expected to perform in that. That's something you've got to work through."
As the above clips show, the 5-foot-8, 185-pound Switzer is a small target and he uses his quickness to elude would-be tacklers. He's not Hill -- who is? -- but he has a cerebral approach. He picked his spots in taking kickoffs out of the end zone and even faked a pair of fair catches on punts.
"I'm not the fastest guy so, obviously, it's more than speed," Switzer said. "You've got to have a good feel for it. You have to have the vision.
"I like the system too. I like what (special teams coordinator Danny Smith has) got going on. I like how they emphasize the return here. It's something I'm looking forward to."