Steelers' Danny Smith Takes Shot At Former Punter Pressley Harvin III: "You're Going To See A Big Improvement"

The Pittsburgh Steelers overhauled several different areas of the depth chart during the 2024 offseason. The most notable moves were relevant to the quarterback position. Russell Wilson, Justin Fields and Kyle Allen found their ways to the Steel City, while Kenny Pickett, Mitchell Trubisky and Mason Rudolph all have new homes. The complete revamp stole the majority of the headlines in relation to the team when the new league year began, but another signing hasn't been talked about nearly as much as it should. General Manager Omar Khan bringing in punter Cameron Johnston may lead to the team finally getting consistency in that area.

Johnston will replace Pressley Harvin III, the 2021 seventh-round pick that never lived up to expectations. He was inconsistent throughout his three seasons with the Steelers, which led to his release not too long after a 2023 Wild Card Round loss to the Buffalo Bills. It's hard to believe Pittsburgh not seeing a drastic change with Johnston holding the job.

Special teams coordinator, Danny Smith spoke to the media on the first day of mandatory minicamp on Tuesday. Via a media-given transcript, he sung Johnston's praises and described how excited he was to have him as a part of the team. He also didn't mince words regarding how much better he thinks the punting will be in 2024 compared to recent years.

"I love him. He's a real pro. He's strong. He's got game and I call game different types of punts. We could do a lot of things with him in that game," Smith said. "He's a pro. I love him. I really do. He's going to really help us. I think you're going to see a big improvement in that area with him."

Time will tell if Johnston is a significant upgrade, but based on his career numbers, the signing was a home run. Johnston averaged 47.7 yards per punt in 2023 and had a career-high pinning opposing teams inside the 20 45.5% of the time while with the Houston Texans. Harvin only averaged 43.8 yards per boot with a pinning inside the 20 percentage of 38.5.

Special teams hasn't always been perfect during Smith's tenure as the man in charge. Chris Boswell has proven to be incredibly reliable and the team also has had success blocking punts, but the field position game hasn't always been ideal. Since 2021, Harvin has mostly been at fault for that. A struggling offense didn't help, but the punting game typically didn't give the defense a chance to back up an opposing offense.

Signing Johnston to a three-year deal worth $9 million tells the fan base that the Steelers have overwhelming confidence that the new punter in town will be trusted for several seasons. Johnston will be the fourth-highest paid punter in terms of average per year, which is a strong deal to agree to for a franchise that hasn't always been one to invest in the punter position.

Steelers Haven't Received Enough Credit For Aggressively Going After Johnston

It has been an offseason full of headlines for Pittsburgh and while questions surrounding the quarterbacks, wide receiver and cornerbacks have seemed never-ending at times, there are no conflicts when it comes to punting. Khan and co. made a decision to significantly invest in a proven veteran, which is something fans have been calling for almost since Harvin's rookie season ended. The defense should be put in much better positions consistently to wreak havoc on offenses.

Do you think that the Steelers kept Harvin for too long? Let us know in the comments below!

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