Steelers Try Out former Punter Who Overcame Substance Abuse

The Pittsburgh Steelers worked out a former member of their squad on Thursday and provided some competition for a position that head coach Mike Tomlin pointed out as lacking in Week 1.

Former Steelers punter Brad Wing was at UPMC Rooney Sports Complex for a workout on Thursday.

Wing, 32, played for the Steelers in 2014, joining the team as a free agent after failing to make the Philadelphia Eagles as a UDFA in 2013. Wing won the punter and holder job and kept it for the season. In 2015, the Steelers traded Wing to the New York Giants after a training camp battle with fellow Australian Jordan Berry.

Wing signed a three-year contract extension with the Giants in 2016, but was released in 2018 after a failed drug test. Wing has since admitted that substance abuse issues, which dated back to his time at LSU, had taken over his life. He entered treatment and says he has been sober since.

But a return to football was not a rapid one. Wing entered the 2023 XFL Draft and was selected by the San Antonio Brahmas, who were coached by his former Steelers teammate, Hines Ward.

With the Brahmas, Wing was an on- and off-the-field success, being named a team captain and leading the XFL with an average of 47.8 yards.

The Steelers held a long competition between incumbent Pressley Harvin III and newcomer Braden Mann at punter during training camp, which Harvin eventually won.

But the third-year punter was singled out by head coach Mike Tomlin on Tuesday as not living up to the standard of the team.

“Field position in a game like that is real,” Tomlin said. “They won the battle of field position in the first half, primarily because of the ineffectiveness of our punt team.”

Harvin averaged 42.3 yards gross and 35.5 yards net on six punts on Sunday. He averaged 44.5 yards gross and 41.1 net last season.