Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin said on Tuesday during his weekly press conference that the team might audition a punter or two in the next few days and it appears as though that has indeed now happened. Not only that, the Steelers also auditioned a long snapper as well.
According to Adam Caplan of SiriusXM NFL Radio, the Steelers have now worked out free agent punters Jeff Locke and Justin Vogel in addition to long snapper Nick Meadows.
Locke was originally selected by the Minnesota Vikings in the fifth-round of the 2013 NFL Draft out of UCLA. He has since been a member of the Indianapolis Colts, Detroit Lions and San Francisco 49ers. This past preseason Locke punted for the 49ers and registered 8 kicks for a 40.5 yard average with a net average of 39.9 and a long of 50 yards.4 were inside the opposition’s 20-yard-line.
As for Vogel, he entered the NFL in 2017 with the Green Bay Packers as undrafted free agent out of Miami. This past preseason as a member of the Cleveland Browns, Vogel punted 16 times for an average of 42.9 and a net average of 36.4. His long was 60 yards and 8 of his punts were inside the opponents 20-yard-line.
As for Meadows, he long snapped at West Virginia. He reportedly had a tryout with the Colts during their rookie minicanp back in May.
The Steelers haven’t been happy with the punting of Jordan Berry in their first two regular season games. Additionally, Berry was cited by Tomlin as being inconsistent during the preseason and that led to now former punter Matt Wile being carried on the 90-man roster until the final round of cuts were made. Wile was quickly claimed off waivers from the Steelers by the Vikings.
