Steelers Now
PITTSBURGH — A day after the Pittsburgh Steelers cut veteran long snapper Jake McQuaide, Christian Kuntz said on Saturday that he’s on track to be ready to go by Week 1.
Kuntz is nursing a sternum injury suffered while trying to make a tackle during the Steelers’ preseason game against the Tampa Buccaneers a week earlier. He got some snaps in and jogged around the field with kicker Chris Boswell during the Steelers’ practice Saturday morning.
“That was part of the plan, just to get a little cardio in, get the heart rate up and hopefully we can ramp it up every day after today,” Kuntz said afterward. “It’s sore. It’s just like a little pain in the chest, but it’s nothing that’s not tolerable.”
Kuntz has nine combined tackles during his four seasons playing for Mike Tomlin. As an outside linebacker at Duquesne, Kuntz registered the most sacks (30.5) in Northeast Conference history.
#Steelers long snapper Christian Kuntz, dealing with a sternum injury, says he should be ready by Week 1. #HereWeGo pic.twitter.com/H4v3rTWXWc
— Brendan Howe (@bybrendanhowe) August 23, 2025
“I pride myself on being a ‘former’ football player,” Kuntz said. “I like to go down and try to make tackles like the rest of the guys, but our job is to snap and throw a clean ball to our punter and our kicker and make sure that’s good, so tackling is an afterthought. Freak accident how it happened.”
Kuntz said he does remind his Steelers teammates of what he accomplished in college, sometimes pulling out his highlights to show them. He called the play he got hurt on “more of an attempt at a tackle” and got hurt because of the way he hit the ground.
Kuntz has dealt with broken ribs before and said it’s a similar sort of pain. It does hurt him to lie down and make everyday movements.
“Ice, rest, it’s really all you can do,” Kuntz said. “There’s really no exercises that can kind of heal it quicker. Just ice and rest.”
This article originally appeared on Steelers Now: Christian Kuntz Promises Rapid Return From ‘Freak’ Injury
