The Pittsburgh Steelers wrapped up their annual 2016 mandatory minicamp with a Thursday practice that reportedly included a little bit of rain. That practice, however, was apparently shortened by about an hour thanks to the leg belonging to kicker Chris Boswell.
Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin reportedly decided to end practice early after Boswell hit a 51-yard field goal, according to Chris Bradford of the Beaver County Times. With that said, Boswell revealed after practice that he had no idea that his long attempt was tied to practice possibly ending early. He was also asked if his Thursday practice-ending kick now makes him the most popular player on the team.
“Nope, not even close,” Boswell said.
After practice, Tomlin talked about the rain and how the practice eventually ended early.
“We just happened to beat the rain,” Tomlin said. “I’m sure the guys will accuse me of having that somehow orchestrated. But Boswell got them out with a nice kick from a decent distance.”
Boswell, who was signed by the Steelers last season ahead of the team’s Week 5 Monday night game against the San Diego Chargers, went on to kick extremely well for the team as he connected on 29 of his 32 field goal attempts during the regular season. The Rice product also made both of his attempts from 50 or more yards last season and both successful kicks, 51-yarders, came at Heinz Field.
So far during the offseason Boswell hasn’t had any competition pushing him for his roster spot as veteran Shaun Suisham is still recovering from the knee injury that he suffered last year during the team’s first preseason game. Suisham is hoping to be ready to resume kicking again when the team arrives at Latrobe in six weeks for the start of training camp.
