The Cleveland Browns probably just made the Pittsburgh Steelers even more glad to have Chris Boswell. Pittsburgh’s AFC North rivals just signed kicker Dustin Hopkins to a three-year, $15.9 million deal, which is more than Boswell’s. Boswell is playing through a four-year, $20 million extension, which averages $300,000 less per year than Hopkins’ new deal.
While one has to take cap inflation into account, the Steelers’ deal with Boswell continues to prove good value. He is now the ninth-highest-paid kicker following the Hopkins deal, almost all of whom signed after him in 2022. I can’t help but notice that he is more accurate than all of them except Justin Tucker.
Boswell ranks sixth all-time in field goal accuracy at 87.2 percent during his nine years with the Steelers. Two of the kickers earning more than him per year did sign earlier or as restricted free agents, however.
But the fact is the Steelers continue to get good value with Boswell’s contract. They may be paying toward the higher end of the market, but they are getting what they are paying for. Considering how many contracts don’t age as well, that’s something worth acknowledging.
Dustin Hopkins, for example, ranks 17th all-time in field goal percentage at 85.8. He is coming off his best season at age 33, though, going 33-for-36 and 8-for-8 from 50-plus. The year before, he went 30-for-34, but only 2-for-5 from 50-plus. Prior to that, however, he usually averaged under 84 percent, something Chris Boswell has only done twice.
Of course, Boswell’s two bad years were rather bad, and he nearly lost his job in 2018. He went just 13-for-20 that year, and he also struggled in 2022. Injuries played a role in that, but he ultimately went 20-for-28 for the Steelers that year.
But Boswell also has six of nine NFL seasons with a 90-percent field goal rate or better, including last season. In 2023, he went 29-for-31 for the Steelers, including 6-for-7 from 50-plus. One of his misses came from 61 yards after a bogus offside call negated a successful 56-yard attempt.
It’s true that kickers are getting better and better over time, and some of those higher than him on the pay scale are near his career average with a good chance of passing him if they stay the course. Guys like Jake Elliott and Ka’imi Fairbairn and Matt Gay are within striking distance.
But as the Steelers reminded us this offseason, it’s worth the investment just to have stability. They finally went out and paid for a quality punter, signing Cameron Johnston at a $3-million-per-season rate. They actually briefly made Boswell the NFL’s highest-paid kicker, the first to earn $5 million per season.
That changed rapidly once the Ravens locked up Justin Tucker later that offseason, and seven more have followed. But the Steelers still have Boswell under contract for the next three years at cap hits below $5 million. As long as he stays healthy, it’s hard to be mad at that.
