Worth The Wait: P Corliss Waitman Shining In Third Stint With Steelers

With how good the Pittsburgh Steelers’ defense is looking, it was a real shame to see P Cameron Johnston go down with a season-ending injury in Week 1. But one man’s misfortune is another man’s opportunity, and Corliss Waitman has seized the opportunity during his two weeks with the team.

He leads all qualifying punters (minimum eight punts) in gross yards per punt with an impressive 52.7 figure. Ryan Rehkow technically has the highest average with 59.3, but he has only attempted six punts, compared to Waitman’s 11. Below is a chart of the top 10 qualifying punters sorted by gross yards per punt. Data is provided by Pro Football Reference.

In his lone game with the Steelers, Johnston attempted two punts for a 51.5 average with one being pinned inside the 20-yard line. Waitman has pinned three inside the 20, but he also has three that resulted in touchbacks with just a little too much power on those punts.

Still, his consistency has been pretty remarkable. His best punt went 58 yards and his worst punt went 48. He isn’t showing any wild inconsistency like what Pressley Harvin III gave the team the previous three seasons. For comparison, Harvin’s career yards per punt figure was 43.7. Nine extra yards per attempt from Waitman is a big deal for this team, especially with how good the defense is playing.

The net yards per punt are a little worse, but still pretty good overall. Waitman has 44.2 net yards per punt, which is eighth overall, seventh for qualifying punters with eight or more attempts. If he didn’t have the three touchbacks, his net yards would be right up there with the best in the league.

Both his gross and net yards per punt are career highs for Waitman. His last stint with the Steelers in 2021 was still good, but slightly lower with 52.1 yards per punt and 42.6 net yards per punt on seven attempts.

Waitman emerging as one of the top punters in the league in the early portion of the season is a big deal for this Steelers team. It gives the defense long fields to defend, and in turn gives the offense better starting field position on average.