Nick Boyle insists he isn’t trying to get out of the house. But with three kids 3 and under at home, trying out for a spot on the Steelers roster Friday at rookie camp — especially as a long snapper — was probably a little less taxing than dad duty.
“I’m busy at home when I’m not snapping,” Boyle said with a smile after the first session of the weekend. “This is like a little vacation.”
But Boyle isn’t trying to coast through this opportunity. If he weren't serious about it, he wouldn’t be here as an eight-year NFL veteran, rubbing elbows with 21-year-old draft picks and warm bodies from the college ranks who likely will never sniff a professional roster, let alone stick on one for nearly a decade.
Boyle, 30, is by far the oldest player at UPMC Rooney Sports Complex. He has played in 92 NFL games, all at tight end for the Ravens, the Steelers’ most-hated rival in the AFC North.
No, he’s not a double-agent sent by John Harbaugh. He still lives in Owings Mills, Md., where the Ravens practice, but he hopes to build a second football career as he and his wife, Kristina, build their new house in their home state of New Jersey. Boyle is starting from the ground floor, to be sure, as one of 33 tryout players for the Steelers, the only one older than 27 or with more than two years of NFL experience.
“No, I love being around this stuff,” Boyle said when asked if he had to swallow his pride when the Steelers invited him here. “I feel old, that’s for sure.”
Boyle added a few people around the organization have looked at his name on the roster and said, “Oh, you went to Delaware?” Then, they look at it again and realize that was eight years ago.
A fifth-round pick by the Ravens in 2015, Boyle was no slouch in Baltimore. He started 54 games, including one in the postseason, and finished his tight end career with 121 catches for 1,049 yards and four touchdowns. His most productive season came in 2019, when he caught 31 passes for 321 yards and two scores, but he was known more for his blocking in the run-heavy offense built around Lamar Jackson.
In 2020, a dislocated left knee ended Boyle’s season and, in the long run, his Ravens tenure. He would miss 17 games over the next two years, spending more time on injured reserve and playing just 61 snaps last season on offense, 108 on special teams.
The Ravens released Boyle in January, with one year left on the $13 million extension he signed in January 2021. Not ready to give it up, Boyle tried to think of a way to stay in the game. Snapping wouldn’t be as much wear and tear on his knees, and he occasionally took reps there for the Ravens during the week in case of emergency. He’d just have to practice.
“I was snapping to a Fisher Price basketball hoop in my driveway,” Boyle said. “My wife didn’t want to catch the balls. I hit [the backboard] sometimes. Sometimes, it goes in the road.”
All apologies to any cars passing by, but Boyle hasn’t snapped seriously since high school. Back then, he pitched himself to colleges as a long snapper, trying to score a scholarship that way.
Instead, what was once Plan A is now his Plan B. Boyle worked out at the University of Maryland’s pro day as a snapper in March, which is how the Steelers connected with him. While he admits there wasn’t a ton of interest in him — most teams are comfortable with their long snappers, including the Steelers, with Christian Kuntz — Boyle has enjoyed seeing another NFL organization from this point of view, especially one that was viewed with hostile admiration in Baltimore.
Steelers special teams coordinator Danny Smith is well known to him, and vice versa, but Boyle is doing his best to put himself in the shoes of a rookie who hasn’t earned more than $23 million playing this sport. He’s showing up 15 minutes early to meetings and doing extra work, even if the coaches are treating him with the respect of a veteran.
Boyle isn’t sure what to expect. He could parlay this into a chance to compete for the starting job in training camp. Or he could return to his family with nothing but a healthy appreciation for starting from square one again. Either way, he’ll keep snapping, maybe catching on elsewhere. What he doesn’t want to do is waste anyone’s time — the Steelers’ and his own — or take a spot away from a younger long snapper chasing the dream Boyle already has lived.
“I still love Baltimore, have a lot of relationships there, but this is just unique and different and it’s exciting,” Boyle said. “But I’m serious. Let’s go do it. It’s not a joke. That’s not what I want it to look like, because it’s not. If this doesn’t work out, I’ll just keep snapping, and if someone else calls, I’ll go there.”
Brian Batko: bbatko@post-gazette.com and Twitter @BrianBatko.
First Published: May 12, 2023, 7:07 p.m.