Steelers Now
Pittsburgh Steelers punter Cameron Johnston gives a major update on his road to recovery after suffering a season-ending injury last year.
PITTSBURGH — Pittsburgh Steelers punter Cameron Johnston suffered a season-ending knee injury last year. Leg injuries can sometimes be career-ending for punters, but that doesn’t sound like it will be the case for Johnston.
“Feeling really good,” Johnston said following Wednesday’s OTAs practice. “Back out there practicing, punting fully. So yeah, feeling really good.”
Johnston, 33, signed a three-year, $9 million contract with the Steelers last offseason, and it looked like a great deal as he received a lot of praise from his coaches and teammates throughout the preseason.
In Pittsburgh’s second preseason game against the Buffalo Bills, Johnston had two 60+ yard punts, a long of 65, and overall average of 56.8 yards per punt.
However, the Steelers will now hope that Johnston can return to form less than a year after suffering his serious injury. He believes he’s just about there, though.
“It seems really, really good. We put a lot of work in throughout the rehab and it feels really good,” Johnston said. “The staff are incredible here and they helped out so much.”
Pittsburgh still has punter Corliss Waitman, who filled in quite nicely for Johnston last season, recording a career-long 71-yard punt and 27 of his 65 punts pinning opponents inside their own 20-yard line.
But Johnston is hoping he can take his job back, and he’ll likely have a good shot at it, given his contract. The only question is his health, but he seems more than confident in himself now back on the field.
“We’re just trying to get better every single day,” Johnston said. “[I’ll punt] as far as Danny [Smith] wants.”
This article originally appeared on Steelers Now: Steelers Punter Cameron Johnston Provides Major Injury Update
