PITTSBURGH —The injury that Pittsburgh Steelers long snapper Christian Kuntz suffered in Saturday's preseason loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers sounds grisly, and he admitted that it's extremely painful, but there's still hope that the Duquesne product can return for the start of the regular season.
Kuntz suffered an injured sternum while making a tackle covering a punt in the first half of Saturday night's 17-14 loss to the Bucs. He was taken from Acrisure Stadium for evaluation, and Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin said the team got "good news" about his injury on Saturday night.
But questions arose on Sunday, when the Steelers hosted a quartet of veteran long snappers for tryouts , and signed one of them — longtime Los Angeles Rams snapper Jake McQuaide — on Monday morning.
But Tomlin said after practice on Monday that he still considers the injury "more short term."
New Pittsburgh Steelers long snapper Jake McQuaide at practice on Aug. 18, 2025. — Ed Thompson / Steelers Now
Perhaps the best sign of the day was the sight of Kuntz on the practice field, shagging balls for the team's kickers and punters while McQuaide got acclimated to his new teammates.
After practice Kuntz told Steelers Now that the injury is painful, but said he's confident he'll be able to return for Week 1.
The Steelers will have to make a decision about whether to place Kuntz, McQuaide or both on the team's 53-man roster for cut-down day next Tuesday. McQuaide will serve as the long snapper for Thursday night's preseason finale against the Carolina Panthers .
This article originally appeared on Steelers Now : Steelers LS Christian Kuntz Determined to Play Through Pain of Grisly-Sounding Injury
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