New contract keeps kicker Boswell with Steelers through 2022
If not for the poor turf conditions at the Hall of Fame game in 2015, Chris Boswell might never have kicked for the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Which means he wouldn’t have cashed in on the five-year contract he received from the team Thursday afternoon.
Boswell, entering his third full season with the team, was rewarded with a multi-year deal that reportedly is worth slightly less than $20 million andwill keep him with the Steelers through the 2022 season.
The contract will give the 27-year-old Boswell the security he certainly lacked in the summer of 2015.
Boswell was unemployed that fall when the Steelers signed him in October following a tryout. The Steelers already had gone through three kickers and had just waived veteran Josh Scobee when they sought a reliable leg that would put points on the scoreboard and provide stability that had been lacking that season.
Boswell has provided precisely that by converting 85 of 95 field-goal attempts, including 6 of 8 from 50-plus yards. Boswell had four game-winning field goals in 2017, including three that came with no time on the clock.
Boswell was released twice by the New York Giants during the 2015 training camp, but his services were needed with the Steelers after an unusual set of circumstances.
Shaun Suisham, the Steelers kicker for four-plus seasons, tore his ACL while trying to make a tackle on a kickoff in the Hall of Fame game in Canton, Ohio. The injury was so severe that Suisham never kicked again.
The Steelers turned to Garrett Hartley, who lasted only three preseason games before pulling his hamstring, an injury that landed him on injured reserve. That led to the Steelers trading a conditional draft pick to Jacksonville to acquire Scobee, who made just 6 of 10 kicks in the regular season before being released.
Finally, the Steelers turned to Boswell, who was signed out of an open tryout. Last season, he set a single-season franchise record with 35 field goals, and he had 142 points last year when he was named to his first Pro Bowl.
Now, Boswell is among the highest-paid kickers in the NFL. The extension puts him in line with other kickers who have received multi-year contracts since the end of last season.
The Chicago Bears and free agent Cody Parkey agreed to a four-year deal worth $15 million that includes $9 million in guaranteed money. The Tennessee Titan re-signed Ryan Succop to a five-year, $20 million deal with $7.5 million in guarantees, and the Carolina Panthers kept Graham Gano from testing free agency with a four-year, $17 million deal that has $9 million in guarantees.
As a restricted free agent, Boswell was scheduled to earn $2.914 million in 2018.
Joe Rutter is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Joe at jrutter@tribweb.com or via Twitter @tribjoerutter.
