[tps_title][/tps_title]Placekicker is a position in football that gets largely overlooked. With that being said, the Pittsburgh Steelers have been blessed to have one of the league’s best legs over the past seven years in Chris Boswell. Boswell has had several clutch kicks during his current tenure with the black and gold, but how does he stack up with other placekickers from Pittsburgh’s past?
For clarification, in this comparison, we are going to be measuring each player’s accuracy at getting the ball between the upright for their career in Pittsburgh. We will not be examining their overall career accomplishments. The players Boswell will be pitted against include Gary Anderson, Jeff Reed, Roy Gerela and Shaun Suisham. As for the order, we will go from oldest to the most recent. Gerela was drafted in 1969, making him the oldest, and where we begin our comparisons.
Gerela was originally drafted by the then Houston Oilers during the 1969 NFL/AFL Draft, later playing in Houston’s inaugural NFL season in 1970. After signing with the Steelers in 1971, Gerela played for the team for seven years before being released. He would tear a groin muscle playing for the San Diego Chargers in 1979, thus ending his playing career. During his playing career with Pittsburgh, Gerela attempted 227 field goals making 146 of them, giving him a 64.3 conversion percentage. Gerela also made 293 out of 306 PATs, good for a 95.8 conversion percentage. Gerela set the bar high for the next man in our list, Gary Anderson.
Anderson was selected in the later rounds of the 1982 NFL Draft by the Buffalo Bills. Unfortunately, he was cut before the start of the season, but managed to sign with the Steelers as a free agent to begin his professional career. Anderson would spend most of his career in Pittsburgh, playing for the team from 1982 until 1994. Over that span, Anderson attempted 395 field goals and converted on 309 of them, giving him a 78.2 conversion percentage. Anderson was nearly automatic for PATs as he only missed four of his 420 attempts for a 99% conversion rate. Considering these percentages in contrast to Gerela’s, Anderson was clearly more accurate. For a few years, Anderson would remain as the team’s most consistent placekicker, until Jeff Reed became a Steeler in 2002.
Reed went undrafted in the 2002 draft, but got a tryout with the New Orleans Saints. He was cut after the preseason, yet he would later receive a midseason contract from Pittsburgh to replace an injured Todd Peterson. From there, Reed would play for the black and gold for eight seasons, totaling 204 made field goals in 249 attempts, putting him at an 81.9 percent. Much like Anderson, Reed was also near perfect on his PATs, converting on all but three of his 310 attempts, giving us the second 99-conversion percentage on our list. Reed would unfortunately get released midway through the 2010 season, and his replacement was someone known to both the Steelers and Reed at the time in Shaun Suisham.
Suisham had a slightly different route when it came to playing in the NFL. He was originally drafted in 2004 during the CFL Draft, but later would sign as an undrafted free agent in 2005 for the Steelers. Suisham would play in the team’s first preseason game that year but was eventually waived as he wasn’t able to surpass Reed on the depth chart. As fate would have it, Suisham did end up succeeding Reed, albeit five years later. Suisham played from 2010-2015, making 124 field goals on 141 attempts, good for 87.9%, and was always on-target for his PATs as he never missed any of his 173 attempts. Suisham would play his final game in the black and gold in the 2015 Hall of Fame game, where he sadly tore his ACL. He would go on to miss the entire 2015 season, which is when Chris Boswell would take over the starting placekicker position.
Photo via Twitter: @JSKO_PHOTO
Boswell began his career on the practice squads for both the Houston Texans in 2014 and the New York Giants the following year before he made the 53-man roster for Pittsburgh in October of 2015. Since then, Boswell has remained the main placekicker for the Steelers. Currently, Boswell’s career numbers show that he’s made 182 field goals out of 206 attempts, and 231 out of 245 PATs, giving him the highest field goal conversion percentage on our list at 88.3, yet surprisingly the lowest conversion percentage for extra point kicks on the list with 94.3.
So, is Chris Boswell really the most accurate placekicker in Steelers history, even though he only leads in one category and not both?
The answer is still yes, for a few reasons.
The Steelers struck gold when they landed Boswell
You must consider the number of kicks that were blocked in each player’s career. They’re ruled as a missed kick, even though you couldn’t be sure if the kicker would miss the kick had it not gotten blocked. How heavily would each player’s numbers be impacted, and would the impact be positive or negative?
Another reason is because of the level of talent in the league during each player’s playing career. From the time Gerela was in the league in the 1970s to Anderson’s playing days in the 1980s, there’s a significant jump in overall talent. This trend has continued all the way to the modern day. The talent here isn’t just the kickers, but also the placeholders, the blockers, and the opposing defensive players on the special team’s unit.
Lastly, we must consider the rule change in 2015, moving the PAT line from 20 yards out from the goal posts to 33 yards out from the goal posts. Not only would this have affected Boswell and his extra point numbers, but it would influence the careers of kickers across the league.
With all these factors calculated, Boswell still stands at the top of the mountain. This will bode well for him as he’s currently entering the final year of his contract. Boswell has no doubt been money on the field, so hopefully that will continue as soon as he gets that same money in his bank account.
Do you think Boswell is the most accurate kicker in Steelers history? If not, then who do you feel is better? Be sure to tell us in the comments below.
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