In the final period of the final practice on the final day of minicamp, Steelers coach Mike Tomlin had his offense run the two-minute drill against the defense. Then, he simulated an end-of-game situation and hurried his place kickers onto the field for 47-yard attempts. Chris Boswell missed his attempt wide right. Matthew Wright, an undrafted free agent out of Central Florida, booted his attempt through the uprights.
Expect a lot more of this type of competition five weeks from now when the Steelers report to Saint Vincent College for training camp. Boswell, the Steelers’ place kicker since the fifth game of the 2015 season, is in a battle to keep his job.
Boswell had been among the NFL’s best place kickers from 2015-17. He made 89 percent of his attempts in those three seasons, and the Steelers rewarded him with a four-year, $16.8 million contract last summer during camp that made him one of the highest-paid kickers in the league.
Almost immediately, Boswell’s fortunes turned bad. He missed a field goal in overtime in the season opener in Cleveland and never recovered. He finished the season making just 65 percent of his kicks (13 for 20).
“Obviously, we need an improvement there,” special teams coach Danny Smith said. “He’s been very good in the OTAs. It has to carry over into the team settings. We put him in team settings, and he’s responded. We know what he’s capable of, and that’s a positive. We have to get back to what he was capable of. That’s where we’re headed.”
Boswell’s miss on Thursday aside, he has shown some signs this spring that he might be getting back on track. Boswell spoke with reporters during OTAs and didn’t shed much light on his disastrous 2018 season. Smith didn’t want to discuss the past either, but he is confident Boswell can turn things around.
“I don’t want to go into last year,” Smith said. “That’s not for the public, what we discuss. It obviously was off, and it wasn’t acceptable. We’ve made corrections, and we’ve worked hard at it together. I’ve seen a great deal of improvement. I’m of the mindset that he’s the guy we had two years ago. Right now, that seems like what we got. We’ll see when we get into the team settings.”
However, Smith knows nothing he did in OTAs or minicamp will matter. Boswell must prove in camp and the preseason games that he’s back to his old self.
Boswell agreed in March to delay a $2 million roster bonus until Aug. 29. If Boswell is still on the team at that point, the day of the Steelers’ final preseason game against the Panthers, everyone will know he won the competition with Wright. If not, the Steelers will have a new kicker for the 2019 season.
“You’ll know it when I know it,” Smith said. “We’ll see that [crap] together. When we get in those critical situations, you’re not going to have to ask me. You’re going to know, and I’m going to know. If he hits that game-winner like he did, he hits those long ones like he did, if he’s banging balls, you’re not going to come looking for me. But once that [ball] goes wide right, and we lose 19-17, you come looking for me.”
Help on the way?
Boswell’s struggles were just part of a long season for the special teams in 2018. The Steelers struggled to cover punts and didn’t provide much spark in their punt or kickoff return game.
General manager Kevin Colbert drafted some players that could help the struggling units.
“We have a lot of prospects,” Smith said. “Our draft was outstanding. A lot of guys lack experience, but they have the ability and the talent to help us. It’s my job to teach them, and it’s their job to learn. We got a lot of guys in the draft that we expect to help us.”
All rookies earn their keep on special teams, including first-round picks that also earn starting jobs. So expect Devin Bush to be involved on at least a couple of special teams units. Receiver Diontae Johnson was a dynamic returner at Toledo. Other rookies that could help include cornerback Justin Layne and linebackers Sutton Smith and Ulysees Gilbert.
“I don’t like to name names,” Smith said. “You know the linebacker types, the DB types, the guys we got. They have the best chance. We have some guys from last year that didn’t play a lot of football that were on this football team that are in that same mix. We have a lot of prospects.”
Tyler Matakevich, a seventh-round pick in 2016, earned a spot on the 53-man roster the past three seasons by excelling on special teams. He became a special-teams captain in 2017 and knows what a quality special-teams players looks like. He’s been impressed with some of the young talent that was acquired.
“Everyone knows you find out everything in Latrobe,” Matakevich said. “It’s just been nice to get these guys in different situations. We haven’t thrown certain punt schemes at them yet, certain rushes. It’s always nice to see who is paying attention and who isn’t. You can really tell when you watch the first group out there and then the second group and third group goes in, and someone is free. But overall, there’s a bunch of growth and development.”
Special teams can be the difference between a team making the playoffs and sitting them out. Matakevich said it’s up to him and the other veterans to make sure the young players that are coming in understand that reality.
“We’re trying to get these young guys to know how important it is,” he said. “In college, you’re just playing offense and defense, not having to be out there on special teams. Now some of you, that’s all you’ll do. It’s really important for these guys to develop and to understand how important it is.”
Ray Fittipaldo: rfittipaldo@post-gazette.com and Twitter @rayfitt1.
First Published: June 17, 2019, 12:00 p.m.
