Steelers punter Jordan Berry faces free agency for 1st time
A proud Australian who grew up a 20-minute drive from the Melbourne, Jordan Berry can hardly believe he’s been in the United States now for a decade.
“Started college (at Eastern Kentucky) 10 years go!” Berry said while an unbelieving smile earlier this month. “That’s pretty nuts, yeah.”
Berry’s offseason trips back to Australia are becoming shorter and less frequent – a function of his growing comfort in the U.S., that his parents are now living in Florida and that he’s established himself as a quality NFL punter.
But will his pro career continue with the Pittsburgh Steelers?
After four seasons with the team, Berry hopes so. But he’s also facing unrestricted free agency for the first time, so nothing is assured.
“Obviously, yeah, I love it here,” Berry said. “This team is great.
“(But) I haven’t really put any thought into (free agency) yet…. I’ll talk to my agent. That’s why I hire those guys; they know that stuff and how it goes on.”
After Mike Tomlin struggled for almost a decade to find a reliable longterm punter, Berry has fulfilled that quest since he beat out incumbent (and fellow Aussie) Brad Wing during the 2015 training camp. He’s the first punter under Tomlin to hold the job for at least two full consecutive seasons.
Berry has averaged a 39.6-yard net average per punt over four seasons, a figure just below the magic number of 40 that he strives for (along with most other NFL punters). He’s landed almost 10 times as many punts inside the 20-yard-line (107) as he’s had touchbacks (11), had only one punt blocked and one returned for a touchdown among the 254 boots he’s had for the Steelers.
This past season wasn’t Berry’s best – Tomlin even publicly acknowledged that he brought in punters to audition for Berry’s job.
“(His 2018 season) started slow, obviously,” Berry said. “I had a few balls that weren’t really up to standard. But once I got going, the hang time got back up there and I was doing really well on that front.
“Directionally, (2018) was sort of average; whereas last year I felt as if I was one of the best (punters in the NFL) in terms of the directional punting. This year, that definitely wasn’t the case. So I made up for that with the hang time.”
Opponents returned just 16 of Berry’s 63 punts – a paltry 25.3 percent rate that was easily the best in the NFL. Just two punters who held a job for more than five games this season allowed fewer returns – and each of them, the Rams’ Johnny Hekker and the Saints’ Thomas Morstead – had 20 fewer punts than Berry,
“We didn’t have many returns at all this year – but we did happen to give up a couple big ones, which really hurt us,” Berry said. “So, just got to focus on that.”
Berry ranked 27th in the NFL in net average and 28th in gross average.
He made $1.9 million in 2018, a salary a little above the median average compensation for a starting NFL punter.
The Steelers face a decision on whether to bring Berry back, and at what price. And if not, who to bring in as a replacement (or potential replacements, if they want a training-camp competition). This past camp, Berry held off Matt Wile; Wile was signed by the Minnesota Vikings and had better net and gross averages than Berry did this season.
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Chris Adamski is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Chris at cadamski@tribweb.com or via Twitter @C_AdamskiTrib.
Chris Adamski is a TribLive reporter who has covered primarily the Pittsburgh Steelers since 2014 following two seasons on the Penn State football beat. A Western Pennsylvania native, he joined the Trib in 2012 after spending a decade covering Pittsburgh sports for other outlets. He can be reached at cadamski@triblive.com.
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