Now that the Pittsburgh Steelers’ 2022 season is over, the team finishing above .500 but failing to make the postseason, we turn our attention to the offseason and everything that means. One thing that it means is that some stock evaluations are going to start taking on broader contexts, reflecting on a player’s development, either positively or negatively, over the course of the season. Other evaluations will reflect only one immediate event or trend. The nature of the evaluation, whether short-term or long-term, will be noted in the reasoning section below.
Player: P Pressley Harvin III
Stock Value: Down
Reasoning: The Steelers’ decision to add a second long snapper to the 90-man roster is a possible indication that they are more serious about setting up a serious competition for the punter position during training camp between Pressley Harvin III and Braden Mann, who was claimed off waivers earlier this offseason.
Maybe I’m reading too much into this and the fact that the Steelers signed Rex Sunahara means nothing in terms of the punter position. After all, we already assumed that Pressley Harvin III would have to earn his job after Pittsburgh claimed punter Braden Mann off waivers, who has been in the league for a few years.
But then again, maybe it does mean something. When the Steelers drafted Harvin in the seventh round, he wasn’t guaranteed a job. He had to beat out Jordan Berry, a veteran, who actually went on to have a good season with the Minnesota Vikings after losing the job.
Here’s another thing about that competition: Berry was working with incumbent long snapper Kameron Canaday. Harvin was working with the challenger, Christian Kuntz. Harvin and Kuntz won. Berry and Canaday were sent packing.
Could we see another two-for-one competition this offseason? It’s reasonable to assume that the Steelers believe they can upgrade both the punter and long snapper positions. Mann at the very least is a legitimate challenger. Sunahara could be as well.
If they like Mann better than Harvin, and he’s working with Sunahara as part of his snapping process, then the Steelers may favor keeping the pair together. Likewise, if they like Sunahara more than Kuntz, it could influence to keep Mann over Harvin, assuming that the competition is close.
Either way, the assumption was already there that there would be a competition for the punter job. The addition of a second long snapper only strengthens the perception that it will be a competition that won’t be handicapped in favor of the veteran.
And as mentioned, the introduction of the second variable of a parallel long snapper competition could strengthen the odds of one influencing the other. In other words, Sunahara outperforming Kuntz (for example) could hurt Harvin’s chances of keeping his job, in theory, as seemed to be the case with Berry and Canaday in 2021.
