A Week 1 injury to P Cameron Johnston delayed the Pittsburgh Steelers’ big step forward on special teams last season, but it sounds like it will be worth the wait. Special teams coach Danny Smith had nothing but praise for Johnston on the first day of mandatory minicamp.
“He’s got game. And what I mean by game is he’s got a lot of things he can do. These Aussie guys are different,” Smith said Tuesday in a clip by Mark Kaboly on X. “They punt all day, they’re rarely hurt…they do this their whole life when they’re growing up I guess over there. He punts in between punts. I’ve never had a punter go through a punt session and punt in between punts.”
Johnston did suffer a major injury last year, but it wasn’t an avoidable injury or something from overuse or improper training, which is the point Smith was making. The Steelers also have experience with a few Australian punters in recent history, including Brad Wing and Jordan Berry.
Johnston is somebody who is constantly honing his craft and punting off to the side even when he isn’t supposed to be.
“I almost got hit in the head the first couple time I was with him like ‘Where the hell that ball come from?'” Smith said.
Even when Johnston was injured, he stayed deeply engaged with his duties to the team. Christian Kuntz and Calvin Austin III said on a podcast appearance that Johnston would prepare a detailed report for the punt-return unit with snap timing, directional punting and everything else you could want to know about an opposing punter.
Pair that work ethic with a track record of success, and the Steelers should see a noticeable improvement to their net punting numbers this year. Johnston will be competing with Corliss Waitman throughout the summer, but his contract and track record suggest he will easily win that battle. He told the media during OTAs that he is 100 percent healthy.
Waitman filled in admirably last season but was still toward the bottom of the league in both yards per punt and net yards per punt. Johnston has a chance to step in and instantly set franchise records in most major punting statistics in his first healthy year.
“He’s dynamic [and] can do a lot of things with the ball. It’s gonna be interesting,” Smith said.
This was supposed to be a big boost to the team and the overall field position battle last year. It didn’t work out that way, but those same benefits will now be passed on to the 2025 version of the team.
