Jordan Berry under pressure to keep job as Pittsburgh Steelers punter after quiet start to season

AUSTRALIA’S Jordan Berry is under pressure to keep his job as Pittsburgh Steelers punter with gridiron great Darren Bennett believing the Steelers are looking at other options.

Jordan Berry and Tom Boswell celebrate a field goal.

JORDAN Berry’s days in Pittsburgh could be numbered.

Australia’s gridiron great Darren Bennett believes the Melbourne-born punter needs to improve pronto to keep his job at Pittsburgh after surviving a mid-week trial.

Berry has averaged just 42.8 yards per punt this year, ranked 26 out of 32 in the NFL after four weeks.

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“Jordan is struggling and I’m sure by his own admission he’d say he needs to improve,” he told the Herald Sun from his home in Tulsa.

“There’s a lot of pressure on Jordan, they (the Steelers) brought in competition for him ... the microscope is on Jordan.

“In the AFL if you’re out of form you can go back to the twos, there’s no twos here. You’re either on a team or on the street.”

Jordan Berry poses for a photo with Seth Myers.

The Steelers brought in two punters to trial during the week and while Berry survived he admitted he’d been told to lift his game.

“(The coaches have said) ‘Hey, you haven’t hit the ball well. We need you to improve. If you don’t improve it, you know, you have to start looking over your shoulder’ kind of thing,” he told Trib Live.

““In practice, I have been smashing the ball, so I just have got to in the game got to translate that across and make sure I am getting everything in that process clean and smooth.”

The Essendon product finished with a 41.2-yard average in Pittsburgh’s loss to Baltimore yesterday and hasn’t had a kick longer than 59 yards in his first four games, a major cause for concern according to Bennett.

Jordan Berry and Chris Boswell celebrate a field goal.

“Over the years with the number of Australians who have played the game there is a legitimate belief that all Aussies are pretty good,” Bennett said.

“But Jordan’s had more chances than anyone and what people don’t realise is how cut-throat this industry is.”

Bennett said Pittsburgh was one of the hardest places to punt in the NFL due to the windy and cold conditions but the Steelers’ horror start to the season could force change.

Berry won the Steelers job from fellow Aussie Brad Wing in 2015 with Wing - who was traded to New York Giants - losing his job last year.

Originally published as Jordan Berry under pressure to keep job as Pittsburgh Steelers punter after quiet start to season