The Pittsburgh Steelers made a bit of a surprising decision Monday afternoon, releasing veteran punter Cameron Johnston, handing the punting position for the 2025 season to Corliss Waitman, who won the battle throughout training camp and the preseason.
Prior to that decision though, the Steelers could have gone in a different direction thanks to a call from the New Orleans Saints.
According to ESPN’s Adam Schefter, the Saints made a trade inquiry to the Steelers in an attempt to acquire Waitman. But, the Steelers decided to keep him, handing him the punting job, releasing Johnston in the process.
Corliss Waitman has won the Steelers punter job, and he had interest elsewhere. The Saints inquired about trading for him before the Steelers made the final decision to stick with him.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) August 26, 2025
Waitman signed with the Steelers ahead of Week 2 last season, taking over the punting job after Johnston suffered a serious knee injury in the season-opener against the Atlanta Falcons, ending his season. He punted just twice for the Steelers last season after signing a three-year, $9 million deal in free agency.
Coming in off the street, Waitman did a great job for the Steelers, not only as a punter, but as a holder for kicker Chris Boswell, too. With Waitman holding, Boswell went on to lead the league in scoring, becoming the first Steelers player to ever achieve that feat in franchise history.
While he was solid as a holder, Waitman also had a strong year punting the ball. Waitman punted the ball 65 times and averaged 41.9 net yards per punt, setting a franchise record for net yards per punt in the process.
With that strong season on his resume in Pittsburgh, Waitman came into the summer with a chance to unseat Johnston. He took the opportunity and ran with it, putting up some impressive numbers in the preseason. He punted the ball five times in three preseason games and averaged 53.2 yards per punt, averaging more than 10 yards more per punt than Johnston did in the preseason on six punts.
It makes sense that a team like New Orleans inquired about Waitman, considering the Saints have rookie undrafted free agent punter Kai Kroeger as the lone punter on the roster. Kroeger punted the ball six times in the preseason for New Orleans and averaged just 46.0 yards per punt, raising some questions at the position for first-year head coach Kellen Moore.
The inquiry went nowhere though as the Steelers ultimately decided to hold onto Waitman and hand him the punting job in the Steel City.
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