As you know by now, the Pittsburgh Steelers signed punter Brad Wing to their practice squad, the man who once served as their starter nearly a decade ago. Wing beat out three other punters brought in for tryouts Wednesday. The team also worked out a pair of long snappers, presumably needed to evaluate the punter’s tryouts.
According to the official NFL transaction wire and NFL insider Aaron Wilson, the team worked out the following four punters: Drue Chrisman, Blake Gillikin, Pat O’Donnell, and Wing.
The two long snappers the team worked out were Tucker Addington and Carson Tinker.
Besides Wing, Chrisman is one of the most recognizable names of the list. The starting punter at Ohio State, Pittsburgh showed interest in him during the 2021 pre-draft process. Ultimately, the team drafted Pressley Harvin III and Chrisman went undrafted, signing with the Cincinnati Bengals. Chrisman actually ended up being briefly on the Steelers in December of 2021, signed to their practice squad, but was released two days later. He returned to the Bengals and punted in 2022, appearing in seven games with a healthy 47.8 yard average.
You can read our player profile on Chrisman below.
O’Donnell is a veteran punter who spent eight years with the Chicago Bears. He spent the 2022 season with the Green Bay Packers. He has 616 career punts for a 45.1 yards average. Gillikin spent two years in New Orleans but lost his job this summer.
Addington spent time with the New England Patriots while Tinker is a veteran snapper who spent five years with the Jacksonville Jaguars. He was in Seattle last year.
Wing was previously in the XFL before being signed by the Steelers today.
Starting punter Pressley Harvin III is dealing with a hamstring injury and the reason for why the team is looking for another punter. During his Tuesday press conference, Mike Tomlin expressed confidence Harvin would play this weekend against the Houston Texans. It’s clear the Steelers are just looking for a healthy leg to help them practice this week. Through three games, Harvin is averaging 47.2 yards per punt, far better than his 42.6 average as a rookie and 44.5 figure as a sophomore.
Long snapper Christian Kuntz has done a solid job and the two players trying out were just to give the punters someone to catch snaps from.
