2018 didn't go as planned for Pittsburgh Steelers kicker Chris Boswell. He set career lows in field-goal completion rate, and extra-point completion rate missed big kicks and drew hatred out from fans of the organization. The kicker received death threats for his performance, according to guard and teammate Ramon Foster.
“The death threats that guy received, the ‘you suck’, the ‘they should cut you, we hate you,’ you ignore it but you still hear remnants of it,” Foster told Ed Bouchette of The Athletic. “You don’t want to go anywhere, you don’t want to talk to anybody, you want to fix your problem.”
Boswell, who went to the Pro-Bowl the year before, made 13 of his 20 field goal attempts (65%) in 2018, while also missing five of 48 attempted extra-points (89.6%).
Nonetheless, the Steelers kept him around. According to Bouchette, the team also brought in former Steelers kicker Shaun Suisham to consult Boswell and deferred his $2 million in roster bonuses to the start of the season to get a better offseason look. They also brought in kickers to compete for his job. But, he prevailed.
Through five games of 2019 play, keeping Boswell looks to be the right option. The kicker is perfect on field goals, going 10 for 10. The same can be said for extra-points, as he is 9 for 9.
“Bos has his swag back,” cornerback Joe Haden said, via Bouchette. “He won a couple of games for me like that in my first season here. It was a down year last year but he’s back to the normal Bos, walking around, swag-like and making kicks.”
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