Pittsburgh Steelers Cut Ties with $9 Million Punter Cameron Johnston After Preseason Battle

As the NFL’s mandatory roster cutdown deadline approaches, the Pittsburgh Steelers are getting busy. The transaction front isn’t slowing down for anyone, especially general manager Omar Khan.

Monday afternoon sees Pittsburgh gain some clarity regarding special teams. The Steelers decided on the roster battle between Corliss Waitman and Cameron Johnston.

Pittsburgh Informs Punter Cameron Johnston of Release

In a move that many would classify as a shock, Johnston is being released. Ian Rapoport of NFL Media first reported the news, with Brooke Pryor of ESPN adding further context.

“It was a tight competition through camp, but the Steelers appear to go with Corliss Waitman as their punter,” Pryor wrote. “Signed after Johnston’s season-ending knee injury, Waitman averaged 46.6 YPP in 2024.”

Johnston’s time with the Steelers comes to an end early in his three-year, $9 million contract. The 33-year-old signed with Pittsburgh an offseason ago, presumably to be their established punter of the present and future. Unfortunately, he made just two punts in 2024-25 before suffering a season-ending knee injury. That forced Pittsburgh to turn to Waitman the rest of the way.

In 16 games with Pittsburgh last season, Waitman booted 65 punts. He averaged 46.4 yards per attempt with a net average of 41.4 yards. His longest punt was 71 yards. Waitman’s 27 punts inside the 20-yard line were tied for 11th in the league.

By cutting Johnston, the Steelers will save $2.5M against the cap while incurring just over $958,000 in dead money. With seven accrued seasons, Johnston is a vested veteran who won’t be subject to the NFL’s waiver wire entering the regular season.

This preseason, Waitman simply outplayed Johnston. The former averaged 53.2 yards per punt with a 44.6-yard net average, whereas the latter’s numbers were 42.3 and 35.8, respectively.

Mike Tomlin Encouraged by Pittsburgh’s Progress at Practice

As the Steelers’ roster continues to dwindle down, head coach Mike Tomlin is proud of those who are able to stick around. Speaking to the media on Monday, he gave a tip of the cap to his team for maintaining a focus on finding new ways to streamline their processes.

“Another good day’s work, really the same agenda that we’ve had the last several days,” Tomlin said. “Just working on our football conditioning, communication both verbal or nonverbal, skills relative to our positions and just trying to become more situationally aware. In certain circumstances the rules of the game change, how you play, lines to gain and so forth.

“We will always be chasing that in terms of working to capitalize on those moments, and capitalizing on those moments, is first understanding them and your roles in them. Just from that perspective, I thought it was another good day. Got guys continuing to work back to us that have been on some of those day-to-day lists, and that’s a positive thing because obviously the sands [are] running through the hourglass.”

Across three preseason games, Pittsburgh posted a plus-12 scoring differential en route to a 2-1 record. In the blink of an eye, the Aaron Rodgers era will truly begin as the Steelers square off against his old team.

September 7’s regular-season opener against the New York Jets is the next big test for Tomlin and company.