Maybe the Steelers will settle on a punter this year
In terms of choosing a punter, it appears that Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin is like one of those people looking for love online: He’s on a constant quest to find someone better.
Here are the people who have punted for Pittsburgh since 2010: Daniel Sepulveda, Jeremy Kapinos, Daniel Sepulveda, Jeremy Kapinos, Drew Butler, Mat McBriar, Brad Wing, and Jordan Berry.
To be fair, the Sepulveda/Kapinos back-and-forth had to do with Sepulveda ALWAYS being injured (in online dating terms, he was one of those people with a sexy pic but a boring personality).
However, since 2012, Tomlin’s been in full-blown “first date” mode with his punters.
Four years ago, Butler made the Steelers roster as an undrafted free agent from Georgia. He punted the entire 2012 season and averaged 43.8 yards per punt. Butler managed to win the punting competition the following training camp, only to be released just prior to the season for Mesko (maybe because the Pittsburgh Pirates “Zoltan” was all the rage at the time)?
Anyway, Mesko didn’t even make it through half the season before being replaced by McBriar.
Pittsburgh didn’t ask McBriar back for the 2014 season and instead signed Wing as an UDFA out of LSU. Wing struggled a bit in his rookie year, finishing 29th in average at 43.7. But he actually seemed to have a personality and someone who could perhaps grow into the Jeff Reed of punters. Why do I say that? Because, not only was Wing arrested during his college career at LSU (don’t worry, nothing too serious), he was flagged for excessive celebration right in the middle of a fake punt in-which he scored against Florida in 2011 (the touchdown was called back).
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Evidently, Tomlin wasn’t very impressed with Wing’s rookie punting average (or the possibility of him becoming the Jeff Reed of punters), because, after signing Berry, a 2014 UDFA out of Eastern Kentucky, in the offseason, he traded Wing to the Giants prior to the 2015 campaign.
During his rookie campaign, Berry ranked 30th in average per punt at 42.6. He also finished 24th in net yards per kick with 39.1 and tied for 11th in the league downing punts inside the 20 with a total of 28.
With New York, Wing fared about the same in both average (44.5) and net yards (38.9), but he did finish fifth with 33 kicks downed inside the 20.
As the Steelers prepare for the 2016 season, will Berry get a chance at a “second date,” or is Tomlin already texting Will Monday sweet nothings about the final cut-down date?
Who is Will Monday? He’s an UDFA out of Duke who has been competing with Berry at training camp and in the preseason.
So far through two exhibition games, Monday has averaged 45.5 yards on eight punts, while the incumbent Berry has vastly exceeded his 2015 numbers (at least through five punts), by averaging 55.3 yards per kick.
With two more preseason games to go, will Mike Tomlin finally settle down and choose Jordan Berry for the long haul, or will Will Monday become the (next) new punter in his life?
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