As of 5:00 p.m. EST the Pittsburgh Steelers have yet to part ways with struggling kicker Chris Boswell. It’s worth noting, however, that the Steelers did reportedly have a late afternoon kicker competition between Boswell and two free agents they flew to Pittsburgh for tryouts, Kai Forbath and Matt McCrane.
Boswell answered questions about his current status with the team on Wednesday in addition to talking a little bit about why he’s missed six field goals and five extra points so far this season. He’s also only attempted 16 field goals in total, by the way.
“It’s mechanical, it’s mental, it’s a mixture of everything,” Boswell said. “You’ve just got to figure it out as you go and find something that works for you. Something that works for me, won’t be something that works for somebody else. So, it’s just kind of figure myself out and coming back from this.”
Boswell was asked about the situation that he’s currently in where he now has to compete for his job.
“Well, I’ve been in that situation before,” Boswell said. “I came here off the street. I was cut many times before that and I’ve always kind of had my back against the wall since coming out of college. So, that’s the position I’m in right now and we’ll just see what happens from here.”
Boswell confirmed that he’s been cut four times so far during his NFL career. After signing originally in 2014 with the Houston Texans as an undrafted free agent out of Rice, he has since spent time with the New York Giants and now the Steelers.
The Steelers signed Boswell to a new five-year contract just prior to the start of the regular season with the total amount of that deal being $19.72 million and including a $6 million signing bonus. Cutting Boswell now would result in a $4.8 million dead money salary cap charge in 2019. However, the Steelers would only essentially lose just $600,000 in salary cap space next season by cutting Boswell now as he is currently scheduled to count $4.2 million against the cap in 2019.
