Usually, football fans aren't floored when they see a wide receiver or even a quarterback get traded, but we don't hear of punters being traded very often. However, the Pittsburgh Steelers are primed to do something they haven't done in exactly ten years: trade a punter before the start of the season.
On September 4, 2015, former general manager Kevin Colbert traded punter Brad Wing to the New York Giants for a conditional seventh-round pick. The trade was made possible after an outstanding summer performance from Australian-born punter Jordan Berry.
The Steelers got the best of both worlds: not only did they get to keep the better punter on their roster, but they also got to move their backup punter to a desperate team for late-round draft capital.
Now the stage is finally set for the Steelers to make a similar move before roster cutdowns.
The Pittsburgh Steelers could trade punter Corliss Waitman before the NFL roster cutdown deadline
Right now, Pittsburgh has two impressive punters on their 90-man summer roster: Cameron Johnston and Corliss Waitman. Johnston was the big free agent signing in 2024, but after suffering a season-ending leg injury in Week 1 last year, Waitman took over and never looked back.
Waitman played 16 of 17 games for the Steelers in 2024 and averaged 46.4 yards per punt. On 65 punts, Waitman placed 41.5 percent of these inside the 20-yard line while averaging 41.4 net yards per punt. Now the stop-gap starter has had another outstanding summer with the team and has put his leg on full display.
Keeping two punters on the roster would be team-building malpractice. Johnston is the favorite to win the job, which would make Waitman expendable. But instead of cutting him outright, why not attempt to trade the impressive punter for a late-round draft pick?
In order for this to happen, the Steelers would need a suitor—a team with a dire punting situation entering the season. If a team has struggling punters and feels a stable option could help them, it would be well worth a move to upgrade the position at the cost of a seventh-round pick or a late Day 3 pick swap.
It's also possible that an injury could occur to a team's starting punter before the start of the season. If this happens and a team reaches out to Pittsburgh to ask about Johnston or Waitman, the Steelers would hold all of the leverage.
Punter trades are extremely rare in the NFL, and this has only happened once in the league since 2019. This trade involved the Green Bay Packers acquiring Corey Bojorquez from the LA Rams for a sixth and seventh-round pick swap in the 2023 NFL Draft.
A potential punter trade for the Pittsburgh Steelers would involve minimal draft capital, but getting something for Corliss Waitman ahead of roster cuts is better than nothing at all. Perhaps Omar Khan could help this team replicate the Brad Wing trade Colbert made exactly a decade ago.