Mike Tomlin described P Cameron Johnston as the “belle of the ball” in free agency last year, but the Pittsburgh Steelers had only just gotten on the dance floor with him before disaster struck. Just two punts into his tenure with the Steelers, he was hit while punting and tore up his knee, prematurely ending his season. According to one Steelers insider, he is looking great at OTAs just nine months removed from what was described as a serious injury.
“We’re still talking about in a very controlled environment, but Cam Johnston — man,” Kaboly said via the Kaboly + Mack podcast on YouTube. “You have to understand they gave him a nice boatload of money last year and he lasted about two quarters. And I know Corliss Waitman filled in admirably, but this guy’s just different and he tore that knee up pretty good in September. So we’re looking at eight, nine months away. He’s booming the hell out of the ball.”
Johnston had given some pretty positive looking updates on social media throughout the last couple months of the offseason. He resumed punting at the end of March with an update on Instagram. By the sound of it, he’s punting pretty well.
At 33 years old, his return for the start of the 2025 season wasn’t a given when he suffered that type of knee injury in Week 1 last year. It’s hard to put absolutes on things, but it seems pretty likely that he will be the Week 1 punter as intended for the 2025 season.
The Steelers signed Johnston to a three-year, $9 million contract with the idea of finally fixing their punting woes. Pressley Harvin III struggled with inconsistency and shanked punts that always seemed to come at the worst of times. Johnston was tied for fifth in net yards per punt in 2023, his last healthy season. Compared to Harvin as the third-worst punter that year, it was set to be a significant upgrade for the team.
Corliss Waitman had a solid season in 2024, but his net yards per punt was still 2.3 yards behind Johnston’s most recent mark. For a team like the Steelers, who are built to grind out games and win the field-position battle, that is a significant difference throughout the course of a game.
Hopefully the Steelers finally get to realize the potential of their punting game with Johnston back and healthy this year.
