The Pittsburgh Steelers have signed P Brad Wing to their practice squad, the team announced Wednesday morning on its Twitter account.
Wing has spent multiple stints with the Steelers. He was with the team in 2014, and then circled back in September 2023. He filled in for an injured Pressley Harvin III earlier in the season, appearing in two games, but was released on Oct. 9 after Harvin got healthy. He punted 11 times with a 45.0 yard average, and a 38.9-yard net average per punt. In between his two stints with the Steelers, Wing was with the New York Giants as their starting punter from 2015-17, but was out of the league and punting in upstart leagues like the AAF and XFL.
For his NFL career, Wing has punted 336 times, averaging 44.7 yards per punt and 38.8 net yards per punt. That is a hair lower than Harvin’s career averages, for reference.
Harvin has had an inconsistent season, at times performing well, but then having an inexplicable 20-yard shank here and there in bad moments, including a 26-yard punt on the first play of the second quarter in the Steelers’ Week 18 game against the Baltimore Ravens. Harvin’s average punt and net average punts have been among the lowest in the league this season. It is likely the Steelers will look in the offseason to add competition to Harvin and Wing could be the beginnings of trying to make that happen. Punting has been one of the large contributors to losing the field position battle over the course of the season. With the defense that the Steelers have had over the last handful of years, a solid punter would go a long way toward limiting opposing teams.
There is also the possibility, with the first injury report from practice set to come out today from both teams, that Harvin could appear with something minor. In which case, this signing would be an insurance policy for the playoff game.
