One of the best kickers in the NFL will stick around in the Steel City for another four years.
Pro Bowl kicker Chris Boswell and the Pittsburgh Steelers agreed on a four-year extension worth $20 million, including $12.5 million in guaranteed money Monday, according to a report from ESPN’s Adam Schefter. The deal ties Boswell with Baltimore’s Justin Tucker as the highest-paid kicker in the NFL, keeping the standout 31-year-old kicker in the black and gold through his age 35 season. The Pro Bowl kicker was slated to earn $3.26 million this season, carrying a $4.948 million cap hit.
Originally signed on October 3, 2015 as the fourth placekicker on the year for the Steelers, Boswell took the job and ran with it, eventually earning a Pro Bowl nod in 2017. During his seven seasons with the Steelers, Boswell has connected on 182 of 206 field goal attempts under special teams coordinator Danny Smith, good for an 88.6% conversion rate.
During his Steelers career, Boswell previously held the record for most field goals in a playoff game by a rookie, and holds the record for longest field goal at Acrisure Stadium, booting a 56-yarder against the Las Vegas Raiders during the 2021 season in the fourth quarter at then-Heinz Field to set the record.
The veteran kicker is coming off of one of the best seasons of his career, connecting on 36-of-40 field goals for the Steelers in 2021, including an impressive 8-of-9 from 50+ yards, including a long of 56 yards against the Raiders. Boswell also connected on 27-of-29 extra points last season for an offense that struggled to finish off drives overall.
Over the course of the last three NFL seasons, 28 total kickers have attempted 50 more field goal attempts. Boswell is ranked third overall in accuracy of those 28 kickers. The two kickers with a better make percentage on that list of 28 players are Tucker and Younghoe Koo of the Atlanta Falcons.
Prior to inking his extension with the Steelers and GM Omar Khan, Boswell entered the offseason turning his attention away from any possible deal, even though he was optimistic a deal would get done.
“I am sure, I am sure,” Boswell said, according to Chris Adamski of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. “But I am here to kick, and I am here to do what I can for the team; I am not here to think about a contract or numbers. I am going to go out there (and work); I made it that way this far in my career, so I am not going to start worrying about that (contract situation) now.”
Those comments from Boswell came just one day after Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Steelers Insider Gerry Dulac reported that the team hadn’t had any contract talks with their standout kicker to date. Now, a deal is done.
