Jul 29th 2008 10:17PM by JJ Cooper (author feed)
Filed under: Steelers, AFC North, NFL InjuriesIf you thought the Steelers special teams were bad last year, just wait until this year.

Punter Daniel Sepulveda, the team’s fourth-round pick in 2008, tore the ACL in his plant leg on one of the first days of camp and will miss the entire season. Although he tailed off a little at the end, Sepulveda did average 42.4 yards per punt gross and 37.9 net, with a knack for putting punts inside the 20-yard line.

This is the second time that Sepulveda has blown out the same knee, which has to be some cause of concern. It will also bring on more criticism from those who think the Steelers shouldn’t have drafted a punter so early (Pittsburgh traded a fourth and sixth-round pick to move up to get Sepulveda). Of course, considering the Steelers bad luck in drafting fourth rounders in recent years, they’re haven’t been a whole lot of better picks to compare to him.

If there’s a bright spot, it’s better to lose a punter now when you have time to sort through various punters instead of during the season when you could lose a game or two while looking for a punter who’s worth keeping. The Steelers signed Paul Ernster, who punted last year for Denver and Cleveland, averaging only 36.0 yard gross and 35.6 yards net in limited action. Ernster’s stats were better the year before when punting in the kicker’s heaven that is Denver, but overall he’s what you would expect to find sitting on the waiver wire. He’ll get the first chance, but expect Pittsburgh to keep an eye on which punters hit the waiver wire in the next month, because right now, Pittsburgh can add poor punting to poor coverage teams as a cause for concern.