Jeremy

Kapinos

Kapinos will be 28 years old before the upcoming season, but he’s only managed two “accrued” years and will be a restricted free agent next offseason. He’ll play for $540,000 this year if he keeps his job. Appearing in eight games in 2011, Kapinos ranked 18th in the league in yards per punt (45.0), and 22nd in net. Ideally, the Steelers would upgrade in 2012.

With Rashard Mendenhall’s 2012 season in doubt, Redman sits atop the depth chart at tailback and could be in line for a heavy workload. Kapinos returns as the team’s punter. McLendon will play second-fiddle to Casey Hampton.

Pittsburgh will go with undrafted rookie Drew Butler at punter. The 28-year-old Kapinos was just 22nd in the league in net punting average in 2011.

The Steelers will move forward with Drew Butler at punter. Sylvester appeared in six games last season, all on special teams. He didn’t record a single tackle and is probably done in Pittsburgh, barring a re-signing for the league minimum.

The Jets are evaluating their punting options as the former Australian Rules football star is averaging a career-low 36.4 net average per punt. Kapinos averaged 41.6 yards per punt in his NFL debut.

The Packers have struggled to find a consistent punter since Josh Bidwell left after the 2003 season. Kapinos was the team’s punter for the final four games of last season, while Brooks was drafted by the Redskins in 2008 and had the job for six games before injuring his hip. Whoever punts better in camp will have the job.

Jeremy Kapinos will be Green Bay’s starter in Week 1. Brooks, a failed sixth-round pick by the Redskins in 2008, was in camp on a futures deal.

Graham struggled last year and was benched for Kapinos on one occasion late in the season. It’s not quite Pennington vs. Clemens on the impact scale, but it is a wide open race this summer.

This should lock in Aussie Ben Graham as the starter. Some reports had Kapinos outpunting Graham at OTAs, but the Jets will stick with their veteran.

This move was fully expected. The Packers might be wise explore a mid-round punter like Zoltan Mesko of Michigan, because they’ve continually failed on the free agent market. That assumes Mesko isn’t the next B.J. Sander.