The Pittsburgh Steelers made a trade Monday morning that included them acquiring kicker Josh Scobee from the Jacksonville Jaguars. While the details of the compensation are not yet fully known, one would think that it cost the Steelers a 2016 late-round draft pick.
Scobee is set to earn $3.425 million in 2015 so that will mean that the Steelers will have $6.89 million in base salaries this season tied to the kicking position, assuming Garrett Hartley joins Shaun Suisham on injured reserve in the coming days. It should be noted, however, that Hartley’s cap charge in 2015 is only $585,000 as the one-year deal that he signed comes with the minimum salary benefit.
Now, we’ll have to wait and see if the Steelers were able to get the Jaguars to eat some of Scobee’s 2015 salary as part of the deal. If you remember, the Steelers were able to get the Arizona Cardinals to eat quite a bit of the salary that tackle Levi Brown was scheduled to earn in 2013 when they traded for him. However, it should be noted that that trade happened in October of that season which means the Cardinals were already locked into paying Brown his full amount for that season being as he was a vested veteran and on their roster for the first week of the season.
When it comes to the deal for Scobee, the Jaguars might have had a bit more leverage as the Steelers may have been one of several teams looking to rent a reliable kicker for one season.
Even though Scobee was 20-of-26 last season on all field goal kicks, he has made 8-of-13 (61.5%) attempts of 50 yards or longer during his career. Additionally, he is 5-of-6 in his career at Heinz Field with one missed extra point.
As for as kickoffs go, Scobee had 37 touchbacks last season on 63 kicks (61.2%).
