The Pittsburgh Steelers are back in the UPMC Rooney Sports Complex earlier than they had anticipated, having been ousted from the postseason in the opening round, which unfortunately marks a slight improvement from the past two seasons, during which they did not even qualify for the playoffs altogether. They have now done four seasons without securing a victory beyond regular season play.
Yet again, they find themselves undergoing the exit meeting process earlier than anticipated, which means so are we.
They did manage to go 12-4 during the regular season, and secured their first AFC North title since 2017, posting a new franchise record by opening the season with 11 consecutive wins, but of course it all fell apart after that. Their only victory after that required a 17-point comeback.
While we might not know all the details about what goes on between head coach Mike Tomlin and his players during these exit meetings, we do know how we would conduct those meetings if they were let up to us. So here are the Depot’s exit meetings for the Steelers’ roster following the 2020 season.
Player: Chris Boswell
Position: K
Experience: 6 Years
While it may not have necessarily seemed like it, Chris Boswell actually had the best season of his career as a field goal kicker—but also the worst of his career as an extra point kicker. He posted a field goal percentage of 95 percent, which is a team record, connecting on 19 out of 20 field goal attempts.
But he also missed four extra points on 38 attempts, equating to a success rate of 89.5 percent—just behind the 89.6 percent that he posted in 2018, the year that his job was in jeopardy. If you’ll recall, it literally got to the point where late in the season they brought in kickers to audition against him. He essentially had to re-win his job between games as he struggled, ultimately going 13-for-20 on field goal attempts that year.
He has bounced back very strong since then, however, in all recording 48 field goal makes on just 51 attempts, a success rate of 94.2 percent over the course of the past two seasons. He also went 28-for-28 on extra points in 2019.
Overall, Boswell has now made 88 percent of his field goals over the course of his career, and that is good for the fourth-best mark in the history of the NFL, trailing only Justin Tucker, Harrison Butker, and Josh Lambo, though he is more than two percentage points beyond the top two, who are both over 90 percent, while he is nearly a full percentage point behind Lambo.
Two years on from that horrendous 2018 season, I think it’s safe to say that Boswell has once again seized control of his job, to the point where it shouldn’t be anticipated that the Steelers will bring in any serious competition. He is still under contract for another two seasons, with cap hits approaching $5 million in each (including $1.2 million in prorated signing bonus from his original extension).
