{"id":946787,"date":"2026-07-16T04:42:15","date_gmt":"2026-07-16T04:42:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/946787\/"},"modified":"2026-07-16T04:42:15","modified_gmt":"2026-07-16T04:42:15","slug":"the-final-piece-of-roster-construction-pittsburgh-will-answer-by-training-camp","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/946787\/","title":{"rendered":"The Final Piece Of Roster Construction Pittsburgh Will Answer By Training Camp"},"content":{"rendered":"

With training camp two weeks away, the Pittsburgh Steelers\u2019 91-man roster is pretty much set. There\u2019s been an offseason full of changes. By my count, there are 39 players on it who didn\u2019t end the 2025 season with the team. That\u2019s well over 40 percent.<\/p>\n

The question will be if there becomes a 40th. Perhaps the only outstanding question is whether Pittsburgh will add a second punter to the camp roster. Or if the team will continue to carry Cameron Johnston as the only one on the team.<\/p>\n

For nearly the entire offseason, Johnston has been the lone name. Only for about a week did Pittsburgh carry two when, back in June, the Steelers claimed Aidan Laros off waivers. Six days later, the team waived him<\/a> and, to date, hasn\u2019t added anyone else.<\/p>\n

On one hand, the team seems comfortable just carrying Johnston. He\u2019s a veteran with a track record. He\u2019s punted in Pittsburgh before and was signed to be the starter in 2024. A freak knee injury in the season opener ended that plan. In 2025, Johnston lost out to Corliss Waitman in a tight battle, with both punting well. Waitman\u2019s left-footedness broke the tie.<\/a><\/p>\n

On the other hand, Pittsburgh spent plenty of energy exploring a second punter. The team brought in three tryouts during rookie minicamp and another during OTAs. None were signed, and some of that was procedural. Johnston wasn\u2019t eligible for camp, and Pittsburgh needed at least one leg. The team, however, didn\u2019t need three of them.<\/p>\n

Anyone the team brings in would be unlikely to make the roster. It would likely be a name on Laros\u2019 level. A rookie or young player just looking for a job. As opposed to a veteran or previous starter. If anyone is thinking about Ryan Stonehouse, who holds the single-season NFL record in gross average, he\u2019s apparently embarking on a real estate career.\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n

Logistically, there\u2019s value in having a second punter merely to take some of the workload off the starter\u2019s plate and avoid fatigue by late in the year. Johnston is 34 and entering his ninth NFL season. There\u2019s reason to give him rest. However, he has just 13 regular-season punts in the past two years, so he\u2019s fresher than the norm. For Pittsburgh\u2019s position, that seems to be the most logical approach.<\/p>\n

It was my assumption around the league. Digging into it further, I was proven wrong. Per Ourlads, only six NFL teams have multiple punters on the roster. Bizarrely, the Cleveland Browns have three. Perhaps the Steelers stick with what\u2019s \u201cnormal\u201d and just maintain having one punter \u2013 Johnston.<\/p>\n

This clearly isn\u2019t a burning question. A footnote, if anything, and mainly of interest to bored nerds and special team junkies like myself. Still, it\u2019s one question to be answered by the start of training camp, right along with OT Broderick Jones\u2019 health status, when QB Drew Allar will sign, and CB Joey Porter Jr.\u2019s possible contract extension.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"With training camp two weeks away, the Pittsburgh Steelers\u2019 91-man roster is pretty much set. There\u2019s been an…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":946788,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2055],"tags":[45424,22692,7,6,520,57,2360,426,691],"class_list":["post-946787","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-pittsburgh-steelers","tag-aidan-laros","tag-cameron-johnston","tag-football","tag-nfl","tag-pittsburgh","tag-pittsburgh-steelers","tag-pittsburghsteelers","tag-steelers","tag-trending"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116927826728073528","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/946787","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=946787"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/946787\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/946788"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=946787"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=946787"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=946787"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}