Buy Or Sell: Pressley Harvin III will be back for another season as the Steelers’ punter.
Explanation: The Steelers used a draft pick on Pressley Harvin III back in 2021. Now three years into his career, he has not made significant strides. His game remains erratic, as it was in college, and head coach Mike Tomlin acknowledged his need for improvement. Finding another punter, however, is sometimes easier said than done.
Buy:
We tend to go down this road or one like it every year. Steelers fans convince themselves that underperforming player or coach X gets dismissed. They can’t possibly stick with that guy another year, right? Not even Mike Tomlin. But they usually do, and the Steelers’ Mr. X this year is Pressley Harvin III.
And he does have some numbers to hang his hat on. He put 30 punts inside the 20-yard line this past season, the seventh-most in the NFL. That also ranked sixth by percentage among punters with 70 or more punts.
There is also the fact that he has proven to be an excellent holder. Christian Kuntz probably wants Harvin to stay more than anybody. He has saved many field goal and extra point attempts from going awry, whether in wet or dry conditions.
Sell:
But at the end of the day, there has to be progress, and there hasn’t been. Harvin’s numbers have regressed. He punted for fewer gross and net yards. His touchback percentage went up slightly. The reason his punts inside the 20 were so high is because he punted from around his own 40 a lot. And many of those wound up on the 18-yard line or so.
One thing we know about Mike Tomlin is that he is willing to draft specialists. He drafted Daniel Sepulveda in the fourth round in his first year in 2007. He drafted long snapper Colin Holba in the sixth. And under him the Steelers drafted a second punter, Pressley Harvin III, in 2021.
The fact that Tomlin spoke as critically of Harvin as he did at the end of the Steelers’ season indicates his job is far from safe. The Steelers will bring in a significant challenger at some point this offseason. They have no choice.
With the Steelers’ 2023 season in the rearview mirror following a disappointing year that came up short in the playoffs once again, it’s time to start asking more questions. Questions about the team’s future in 2024 and beyond. Questions about The Standard.
The rookie class of a year ago was on the whole impressive, but they need to step up into staple starters in 2024. And they likely need a strong influx of talent in both free agency and in the 2024 NFL draft yet again. In addition to a revisitation of the coaching staff.
These sorts of uncertainties are what I will look to address in our Buy or Sell series. In each installment, I will introduce a topic statement and weigh some of the arguments for either buying it (meaning that you agree with it or expect it to be true) or selling it (meaning you disagree with it or expect it to be false).
