With P Cameron Johnston suffering a season-ending knee injury, the Pittsburgh Steelers brought back a punter they’re quite familiar with in Corliss Waitman. This is Waitman’s third stint with the Steelers, signing with the team as an undrafted free agent in 2020 and then spending time on the active roster in 2021 with P Pressley Harvin III on bereavement leave, with Waitman punting in two games for the Steelers. Mike Tomlin said in his weekly press conference today that the Steelers are “really excited” to have Waitman back.
“We’re familiar with Corliss. Excited about him,” Tomlin said via the team’s YouTube channel.
Tomlin mentioned that Waitman’s experience punting for the Denver Broncos in 2022 will be beneficial as the Steelers head to Denver for their Week 2 matchup on Sunday.
“Really had an opportunity to develop while here, he didn’t have a lot of holding experience in college, so [Chris Boswell] and company were a component of his growth and development in that area. He left here in ’22, he was a punter in Denver, so specifically as it pertains to this weekend, he’s really familiar with the environment that we’re going into,” Tomlin said. “So those are some of the reasons that we’re really excited about Corliss and bringing him into the fold.”
Waitman’s familiarity working with and holding for Boswell will be important. he also is familiar with Christian Kuntz as a long snapper, which gives him an immediate leg up as he re-acclimates to Pittsburgh. Knowing how to kick in Denver is important because of the elevation. Shorter kicks can become longer ones, so a player who’s familiar with that environment and knowing how much power to put on their punt is important, and Waitman has that given he spent a full season kicking for the Broncos in 2022, leading the league with 96 punts.
Of those 96 punts, 47 of them were at home, and he averaged 45.6 yards per punt at Empower Field at Mile High.
For his career, Waitman has averaged 46.9 yards per punt with a net average of 41.5 yards. He was impressive in his two games with the Steelers in 2021, averaging 52.1 yards on seven punts over two games. It made a lot of sense to bring him back given his familiarity with the whole process, as adding a punter who isn’t familiar with the staff and the nuances of holding for a different long snapper would make things more difficult as the Steelers prepare for Denver and the rest of the season.
Losing Johnson is a tough blow, as he was expected to take Pittsburgh’s punting to another level after a few subpar seasons with Pressley Harvin III. But Waitman has experience and he was fairly impressive during his time in Pittsburgh.
He could wind up being a solid add to prevent too much of a drop-off in that area.
