The Pittsburgh Steelers won’t make a change at kicker. For now. According to ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler, they’re holding onto Chris Boswell through this weekend.
Steelers are sticking with Chris Boswell for Sunday's matchup with the New England Patriots, per source. Team kept veteran kicker Kai Forbath overnight after a Wednesday tryout but has notified it's standing pat. Boswell had a good practice Thursday.
— Jeremy Fowler (@JFowlerESPN) December 13, 2018
As Fowler’s tweet indicates, Boswell had a successful Thursday practice, reportedly connecting on 9 of 10 attempts.
Steelers consider Chris Boswell’s kicking session Thursday positive. Boswell said 9-of-10 from various ranges in game simulation “sounds about right” but added he doesn’t count them in the moment, more about having a well-run operation.
— Jeremy Fowler (@JFowlerESPN) December 13, 2018
The Trib’s Chris Adamski caught up with special teams coach Danny Smith, who said he wasn’t aware of any impending change.
Steelers special teams coach Danny Smith, asked to confirm that the Steelers are NOT signing a new kicker:
"Noting that I’m aware of – now, we come back out here in an hour you're gonna say, ‘This guy is full of (crap): he lied to me!’ I’m not being evasive… I’m being honest."
— Chris Adamski (@C_AdamskiTrib) December 13, 2018
The Steelers worked out kickers Kai Forbath and Matt McCrane on Wednesday. They reportedly liked Forbath’s workout that they kept him through today, waiting until seeing how Boswell performed Thursday until making a final decision.
As Mike Tomlin alluded to all week, keeping Boswell was always an option. To help him work through his issues, as we wrote earlier, the team brought in former Steelers kicker Shaun Suisham to help.
Boswell has gone 10/16 on field goals this year, nearly totaling the same number of misses he’s had the last three years. He went 0/2 in Sunday’s loss, slipping on the game-tying attempt, and clanging an extra point off the uprights that barely snuck in. The team obviously liked what they saw during the week but clearly, Boswell is still on thin ice.
