With veteran punter Adam Podlesh still away from training camp as he awaits the birth of his child, the Pittsburgh Steelers continue to wing it at Latrobe with just one punter.
Brad Wing, who was signed to the offseason roster way back in January, remains the Steelers lone punter in training camp until Podlesh returns. So far, the LSU product hasn’t received a lot of media attention and based on his past, that’s probably a good thing.
Alex Kozora has been timing Wing’s punt hang times during training camp practices whenever he has a chance and feels like the young punter might have a shot to beat out Podlesh for the job this year.
So what is a good hang time for a punter? According to Buffalo Bills punter Brian Moorman, who just so happened to be in training camp with the Steelers last year, it’s 4.5 seconds.
“It’s funny because it depends who you ask but when I first got in the league and our special teams coach was Danny Smith he told me 4.5 (seconds) was always the time so that number was always stuck in my head,” said Moorman in a January interview.
Hang time isn’t everything, however, as placement is sometimes just as important. While Wing might have a big leg, his accuracy might not be acceptable to some special teams coaches.
Just because Wing might be the only punter in camp right now, doesn’t guarantee him anything. In fact, based on what we saw transpire last year right before the start of the regular season, neither Wing nor Podlesh are guaranteed to be the Steelers punter in 2014.
Just ask the aforementioned Moorman, as both he and Drew Butler were both released from the Steelers after the final preseason game.
