The Pittsburgh Steelers are most of the way through the first part of the offseason leading to the draft. Before we get there, we’re going to take stock of how the roster has evolved over the past several weeks. Position by position, we’ll break down who’s coming and going and what’s next, for those rookies and those already here.
Position: Specialist
Total Positional Figure: 4
Offseason Additions: 0
Offseason Deletions: 0
Players Retained:
Chris Boswell: Chris Boswell laid claim to best kicker in the NFL in 2024, perhaps a first for the Steelers. In any other season, he would have set a new NFL record for the most 50-plus-yard field goals. But someone else made even more. While he doesn’t have the massive leg for routine 60-plus-yarders, he is as good as anybody in the 50s.
Cameron Johnston: The Steelers paid Cameron Johnston big money last year, at least for a punter, to solve their issues of instability of personnel and performance at the position. That lasted all of two kicks, at least temporarily. On his second punt of the season, he tore his ACL. But he is on his way to recovery and should reclaim his job for 2025.
Corliss Waitman: You might not know it by looking at the NFL’s punter stats, but Corliss Waitman set a Steelers franchise record. His net punting average last season was the best in team history, even if it was merely average across the league for 2024. Still, he performed admirably and would probably be their best punter since they had a healthy Daniel Sepulveda if not for Johnston.
Christian Kuntz: Christian Kuntz is “good enough”, yet the Steelers keep looking at long snappers. Last year, they didn’t ever really sign anybody, but perhaps the changes at some point. They’re not exactly committed to him in any high-stakes way. It wouldn’t hurt to bring someone in and let him compete at long snapper. If they want their two punters to compete for the job, it would also make sense to have two snappers.
Players Added: N/A
Players Deleted: N/A
Notes And Draft Outlook:
The Steelers have neither added nor subtracted anybody from the specialist group, but that can change. For one thing, they have yet again done their due diligence keeping their Rolodex filled with long snappers. They did that last year when Christian Kuntz was struggling, and he wasn’t exactly amazing last year.
Obviously, the most interesting thing going on with specialists for the Steelers this offseason is at punter. Last year, they signed Cameron Johnston to a big-money-for-a-punter contract, and he lasted two punts. On his second punt, he tore his ACL. Corliss Waitman filled in the rest of the year, to positive effect.
But will the Steelers hold an “open” competition between the two, or is the job Johnston’s once healthy? He appears to be on the mend pretty well, recently returning to punting. Waitman set a franchise record for net punting average last season—yet that was only average leaguewide. Johnston’s career punting average is better.
As for Chris Boswell, what is there to say about him? He is the first Steelers kicker to earn first-team All-Pro honors in franchise history. But he is also 34 years old, so it’s fair to start wondering how much longer he will play.
