Steelers Now
PITTSBURGH — NFL front offices usually sweat when handing out market-setting contracts, but the Pittsburgh Steelers didn’t blink. By locking down kicker Chris Boswell to a four-year, $28 million extension, Pittsburgh officially set the standard for special teams value. The deal averages $7 million per year, tying him as the highest-paid kicker in NFL history and securing his spot in black and gold through 2030.
To the casual observer, $28 million sounds like a luxury. To anyone who has watched the Steelers scrape through the grueling AFC North, it looks like a bargain. Boswell currently ranks as the sixth-most accurate kicker in NFL history, hitting 87.7% of his field-goal attempts. He also owns an 82.5% success rate from 50 yards or deeper, the best all-time mark in league history for kickers with at least 60 attempts from that distance.
Speaking at a press conference on May 18 following an OTAs practice, Boswell made it clear that while his tax bracket has changed, his high-stakes approach to the game remains exactly the same.
“The money value doesn’t pay any respect to how you do on the field,” Boswell said. “I mean, because of the contract doesn’t mean I’m going to make or miss any more kicks. I mean, I still got to show up and perform every single week. And my job’s on the line every single kick, every single week. And I have to keep that mentality and let the rest take care of itself.”
That relentless mindset is precisely why Pittsburgh paid for peace of mind. Eleven years after arriving as a street free agent, Boswell remains the ultimate insurance policy. In a stadium where points are hard-fought, he has proven time and again that he is worth the historic price tag.
Acquired: Signed mid-season in 2015 to stop a chaotic, four-kicker carousel, Boswell has spent over a decade morphing from a street free agent into the most clutch weapon in franchise history. One of the most accurate kickers in NFL history, “Boz” has a legendary ice-water pulse, holding an elite 82.5% success rate from 50+ yards and going a perfect 19-for-19 in his postseason career. He solidified his cultural cornerstone status in May 2026 by signing a historic four-year, $28 million extension that ties him as the highest-paid specialist in league history, locking him into the black and gold through 2030.
Last Year: Coming off an elite first-team All-Pro nod in 2024, Boswell remained the steady anchor of Pittsburgh’s offense in 2025, racking up 123 total points. While his baseline field goal percentage dropped slightly to 84.4% due to a couple of rare mid-range hiccups, Boswell remained absolutely lethal from distance. He earned an elite 92.5 overall field goal grade from Pro Football Focus—good for fifth among all NFL specialists—by drilling 9 of his 11 attempts from 50-plus yards.
Highlighting his campaign was a heroic Week 1 performance against the New...
