Former Pittsburgh Steelers punter Pressley Harvin III will attend Tampa Bay Buccaneers minicamp next week as a tryout player, per Greg Auman of Fox Sports.
Teams can bring veterans in for tryouts during rookie minicamp, and Harvin will attempt to land a contract with the Buccaneers following three seasons in Pittsburgh. Harvin was released on Feb. 12 and there’s been minimal interest in him since on the free agency market after he registered just 43.7 yards per punt over his three years in Pittsburgh. As Auman notes, Camarda, a fourth-round pick in the 2022 NFL Draft, is coming off an impressive sophomore campaign with 50.1 yards per punt. However, his net yards per punt were just 41.2, down from 41.4 as a rookie.
Pittsburgh filled its hole at punter by signing Cameron Johnston earlier this offseason, so a reunion with Harvin is likely off the table. Even if he does get signed by Tampa Bay, it’s going to be tough for him to beat out Camarda, but maybe given an opportunity he’ll generate interest from elsewhere around the league if a team has a need at punter.
A former seventh-round pick by the Steelers, Harvin, the Ray Guy Award winner in 2020, just never found his footing or any measure of consistency in Pittsburgh. The team’s punting game was a weakness, which coupled with an offense that struggled to put points on the board was a frustrating combination. That led the team to quickly move on from Harvin after his third year in the league and sign a proven punter in Johnston.
Maybe a change of scenery will benefit Harvin, whom the Steelers once thought highly enough to spend a draft pick on and keep over Braden Mann last season. The opportunity with Tampa Bay could potentially spark interest in Harvin and give him another shot in the league that he has yet to find this offseason.
