Shortly after the conclusion of the 2023 season, the Pittsburgh Steelers made significant changes to their roster, cutting loose players from problematic positions in hopes of being able to reshape the roster in a strong way in free agency.
The punting position was one such area the Steelers made changes, cutting loose fourth-year punter Pressley Harvin III after another poor season from the former seventh-round pick out of Georgia Tech.
A few weeks later, the Steelers made an upgrade at the punting position, landing veteran Cameron Johnston in free agency on a three-year, $9 million deal, giving the Steelers a productive, consistent veteran at the position for the first time in a long time.
For Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin, Johnston was the cream of the crop in free agency at the position, according to a tweet from The Athletic’s Mark Kaboly.
Tomlin talked about what attracted the team to Johnston during the press conference.
“A lot of things man, his body of work since he’s been in the NFL, his ability to kick in less than ideal circumstances. We have a lot of information and tools at our disposal in today’s advanced analytics world, and just about every situation and direction that we looked at it from, he was the belle of the ball in terms of the market, and we’re glad to have him,” Tomlin said via the Steelers’ YouTube channel.
Johnson, 32, was one of the top punters on the free agent market right alongside former Kansas City Chiefs punter Tommy Townsend. In his career to date, Johnston has been one of the better punters in the NFL.
In his six-year career, Johnson has punted for the Philadelphia Eagles and Houston Texans, bringing stability and consistency to the table.
He’s averaged at least 46.4 punting yards every year in his career and at least a 40.6 net yards per punt figure every year of his career. For his NFL career, he’s averaged 42.2 net punting yards, which is a significant upgrade on the numbers Harvin was putting up in Pittsburgh (39.4).
Last season alone in Houston, he averaged a career-high net punting yards with Houston and saw 30 of 66 punts downed inside 20-yard-line, leading to a strong free agency market for the Australian.
That market ended up being Pittsburgh, where Tomlin is happy to have him.
According to Tomlin, Johnston passed every analytics test from the Steelers’ perspective, leading to the pairing in free agency.
Johnston played in 13 games last season, missing the first four games due to a calf injury suffered in training camp. Once he returned, Johnstone was one of the best punters in football as he averaged 47.7 punting yards and had a long of 74 yards. Additionally, he ranked as one of the best punters in the league in punter EPA while Harvin was one of the worst, according to Puntalytics on Twitter.
Hopefully that number doesn’t drop off because it appears as though the Steelers finally have a long-term answer at the punting position. That will be huge for Pittsburgh moving forward based on the style of play the franchise is built around, living off low-scoring affairs.
