The Steelers are claiming former Jets punter Braden Mann off waivers, according to a report by Field Yates of ESPN.
As such, the move sets up a punter competition between Mann and Pressley Harvin III throughout the offseason. New York tried to move Mann but ended up finding no suitors, so they put him on waivers and the Steelers seemingly bit on the bait. It should be a hotly contested job that could harken back to the Jordan Berry and Harvin competition from a few seasons ago.
In his three seasons with the Jets, Mann posted an average of 45.4 yards per punt and landed 60 putns inside the 20-yard line, including a career-high 27 this past season. However, his net punting yardage comes in only at 39.5 net yards per punt over the three seasons, posting a 40.6 net yardage per punt this past season.
Harvin has struggled at times, and Mann has better averages across nearly every category. Still, expect this to be a competition from the outset and that Harvin could have a shot to win it if he shows out. The team worked out punters after the season and decreed that they would be looking for potential guys to push Harvin.
He finished 19th in the NFL in net punting average at 41.1, a three-yard improvement over his rookie season, and his 137 total return yards was the second-fewest among regular punters. But his gross average was just 44.5, or 28th in the league, because of too few short kicks off the side of his foot.
Harvin, the Steelers’ seventh-round pick in the 2021 NFL Draft, has hit some big punts in his two-year NFL career, and excels in minimizing returns with hang time, but has not developed the kind of consistency most teams look for in a punter. Mann, similarly, has struggled to maintain consistency but is an expert at directional punting.