Longtime NFL kicker Josh Scobee will sign a one-day contract to retire as a member of the Jacksonville Jaguars on Thursday, April 13 at 1 p.m. ET, according to the team’s website.
Scobee, who during his long career made 241 of his 301 regular season field goal attempts and 323 of his 329 extra-point tries, was originally drafted by Jacksonville in the fifth-round of the 2004 NFL Draft out of Louisiana Tech. After spending his first 11 seasons in the NFL with the Jaguars, Scobee was traded to the Pittsburgh Steelers for a 2016 sixth-round pick just prior to the start of the 2015 regular season.
The Steelers traded for Scobee after losing kickers Shaun Suisham and Garrett Hartley to injuries during the 2015 preseason. Scobee, however, only lasted four games with the Steelers as he made just six of his 10 field goal attempts and missed one of his seven extra-point tries. Two of those field goal misses came during the Steelers Week 4 23-20 overtime loss to the Baltimore Ravens at Heinz Field.
Scobee would later reveal that he was dealing with two muscle injuries in his kicking leg that he claimed occurred in a practice session the day before the Steelers game against the Ravens.
“They [the Steelers] didn’t know much about it,” Scobee said, according to Garry Smits of The Florida Times-Union. “I think they would have made the same decision [about cutting him]. It’s unfortunate, but things happen for a reason.”
After Scobee was released, the Steelers held kicker tryouts and ultimately settled on Chris Boswell and he’s been a very reliable leg for the team ever since. While Scobee would ultimately sign a one-year contract with New Orleans Saints in March of 2016, he was released by the team just two months later.
