Mike Tomlin said the Pittsburgh Steelers would work out kickers today to potentially replace the struggling Chris Boswell. If it’s going to happen, it’ll occur tomorrow. Apparently, they failed to work anyone out today. That’s according to Howard Balzer of Balzer Football, one of the best people to follow when it comes to NFL tryouts.
This was his response to me when I asked if the NFL logs showed the Steelers working anyone out.
I suppose it’s possible they did work players out but didn’t have it completed by the NFL’s deadline but normally, that wouldn’t be an issue. Especially going into today knowing you were going to open up the kicker spot, not a last second decision because of an injury or something unexpected.
Tuesday is the usual day for teams to try players out. Here’s how former Denver Broncos general manager Ted Sundquist described the day and its importance, per The Football Educator (emphasis there’s).
“While GM of the Denver Broncos, I took full advantage of “Tryout Tuesdays”. My philosophy was to bring in the top free agent playersfrom our evaluations throughout the preseason released on the last two roster cuts. This gave my Personnel Department an opportunity to view preseason film and couple it with previous college and pro reports put together in the not too distant past.”
At his Tuesday press conference, Tomlin said the team would tryout players this week. Boswell could also retain the job.
“Yes, we will. But also, like I mentioned, Boz is a viable option as well,” Tomlin said.
The longer it takes for them to make a move, the worse off they’ll be. Assuming no kickers worked today, no one will be signed until Wednesday afternoon at the earliest. That leaves little time to work as part of the kicking operation, with the long snapper and holder, and time to practice and prepare for every situation a kicker might need to be in for Sunday’s game. Things like onside kicks, safety punts, end-of-game situations with the clock running and no time left.
It seems like making a bad situation worse. And we’ll have to wait another day for us to find out Boswell’s future with the Steelers.
