The Pittsburgh Steelers have one of the best kickers in the league in Chris Boswell, and the veteran is confident he will get paid before the season starts.
In his first big move as the Pittsburgh Steelers general manager, Omar Khan wasted no time in getting Minkah Fitzpatrick inked to a new deal that will keep him around for the foreseeable future. The two-time First-Team All-Pro safety had the accolades and production that made his extension an easy choice.
Since then, Pittsburgh’s front office has been relatively quiet — particularly on the accounting side of things. From the gate, there have been two other high-profile players we have speculated could receive a new deal: WR Diontae Johnson and K Chris Boswell.
To open training camp practice, Johnson did not participate in any team practice sessions — essentially admitting that he is ‘holding in’ to avoid injury until he gets his new contract. In such an inflated wide receiver market, we don’t know if Johnson will get his money with the Steelers this year, but we have been confident that they will get something done with Boswell.
Apparently, the Steelers kicker feels the same. Josh Rowntree of 93.7 The Fan caught up with Boswell and asked him if he thinks he will get his contract extension before the season. Boswell responded with, “Oh, I’m sure. I’m sure.”
Asked Chris Boswell if he’s optimistic that a contract extension will get done before the season starts.
— Josh Rowntree (@JRown32) July 28, 2022
“Oh, I’m sure. I’m sure,” he said. #Steelers @937theFan
This makes me feel like Boswell’s agent and the Steelers are in the final stages of coming to terms on a new deal. Based on his production and pedigree, it’s pretty easy to predict that Boswell will become the highest-paid kicker in the NFL — leapfrogging Ravens star, Justin Tucker.
This certainly doesn’t mean that Boswell is a better player than Tucker; rather, it’s just the way that the market works. Tucker signed his deal back in 2019 — a four-year, $20 million contract, per Over the Cap. Now that the salary cap has increased, Boswell is projected to come in just above Tucker’s $5 million in annual earnings… and why shouldn’t he?
Kickers are incredibly valuable to creating a stable offense. Over the past three years when the Steelers have been able to make it to the opposing team’s 35-yard line, we can be very confident that the ‘Wizard of Boz’ is going to at least allow us to come away with 3 points on the possession.
Fans were worried about Boswell in 2018 when he converted just 65 percent of his kicks, but since 2019, the Steelers former Pro Bowl kicker has made 84 of 91 kicks (92.3 percent conversion rate), via Pro Football Reference. This is one of the best marks in the league over this span. Boswell also banged through a 56-yarder and a 59-yarder over the past two seasons.
Chris Boswell’s contract is going to be pretty easy to figure out as he will come in at the top of the league in terms of yearly money for kickers, but if continues to play as he has, he will be worth every penny. He seems to be very confident that the Steelers will get a deal finalized with him soon.