Chris Boswell and the Pittsburgh Steelers: What 11 Years of Never Missing a Playoff Kick Actually Looks Like
Chris Boswell has never missed a postseason field goal attempt. Not one. In 11 seasons and 19 playoff kicks, he has gone 19-for-19. That number has been sitting in the back of Steelers fans’ heads for years, and now, after a four-year $28 million extension signed in May 2026, it’ll be there for at least four more seasons.
From Undrafted to the Highest-Paid Kicker in NFL History
Boswell grew up in Fort Worth, Texas, played at Fossil Ridge High School, and kicked at Rice from 2009 to 2013. Nobody drafted him. The Houston Texans signed him as an undrafted free agent in 2014, cut him before the season started, and the New York Giants kept him on their practice squad briefly before releasing him too.
The Steelers called midway through the 2015 season, after going through three kickers in four games. Boswell made his Pittsburgh debut on October 12, 2015. In 12 regular season games that year, he hit 29 of 32 field goals at 90.6%, including a game-winner at Cleveland from 42 yards as time expired. Then he went 7-for-7 in the playoffs.
Nobody looked back after that. But it’s worth noting that the path here was genuinely precarious – the kind of depth-chart accident that produces franchise cornerstones roughly never. A different coordinator, a different week, and Boswell is probably out of the league by 2016.
Career Numbers, Including the Seasons Nobody Likes to Talk About
Through 2025, Boswell has made 299 of 341 field goal attempts (87.7%) and 353 of 369 extra points (95.7%). He has 1,250 career points, second in franchise history. He holds the nine longest field goals in Steelers history, all by himself.
But the career line isn’t clean. After signing his first big extension in 2018 – four years, $16.8 million – he made 65% of his field goals that season. Career low, by a lot. Then after signing his next extension in 2022, he hit 71.4%. Two contracts, two immediate down seasons. That’s an odd pattern, and nobody has ever explained it convincingly. The Steelers and Boswell both acknowledged the 2022 struggles without much elaboration beyond mechanical adjustments.
He bounced back in 2023 going 29-for-31, which likely saved his job. Then came 2024.
In 2024, Boswell converted 41 of 44 attempts at 93.2%. He led the entire NFL in scoring. He made 35 of 35 PATs. He was named first-team All-Pro – the first Pittsburgh kicker to ever receive that distinction – and went to the Pro Bowl for the second time, his first since 2017. He also made 13 of 15 from beyond 50 yards, which is a rate that most kickers don’t hit from inside 40.
The AFC gave him Special Teams Player of the Week twice and Player of the Month in both September and October. By November, the contract conversations were unavoidable.
The Week 11 Ravens Game, Which Was Actually Something
On November 17, 2024, the Steelers beat the Baltimore Ravens 18-16. Boswell scored all 18 Pittsburgh points. Six field goals, including three from 50-plus yards. The Steelers had zero touchdowns, zero two-point conversions, zero PATs. Just Boswell, six times, doing the only thing that mattered.
He was the first Steelers kicker to make three 50-plus-yard field goals in a single game when he did it against Atlanta in 2024 Week 1. The Ravens game was his second time doing it. No other player in NFL history has done it twice.
A 60-Yard Game-Winner in New Jersey
September 7, 2025. MetLife Stadium. The Steelers down 32-31 with just over a minute left, facing fourth-and-11 from their own side of the field. Mike Tomlin sent Boswell out for a 60-yard attempt.
He hit it. Room to spare. Steelers won 34-32.
Boswell’s previous franchise record was a 59-yarder at Dallas in 2020, indoors. He also made a 59-yarder at home in Pittsburgh in 2022. The 60-yarder in New Jersey was outdoors, in early September, with the season on the line. The NFL record is Justin Tucker’s 66-yarder in 2021 – but that was inside Ford Field in Detroit. Outdoor and indoor kicks are not comparable, and Boswell has now made his two longest attempts outdoors.
After the kick, Boswell and long snapper Christian Kuntz reportedly exchanged some pointed words with the Jets sideline. Tomlin told reporters that Boswell has a “serial killer” mentality. That’s a direct quote, and it’s accurate in the only way that matters in professional football.
The $28 Million Extension and What It Actually Costs the Steelers
The Steelers and Boswell agreed to a four-year, $28 million extension in May 2026. The $7 million annual average ties him with Dallas Cowboys kicker Brandon Aubrey as the highest-paid kicker in NFL history. The deal runs through the 2030 season, meaning Boswell will be 39 when it expires.
Boswell said after signing: “It means everything to me and my family. Just to continue my career here meant a lot. Played a little bit before here but I don’t really consider anywhere else but here home.”
He was entering the final year of his previous deal before this extension came through. By Spotrac projections, he’s the Steelers’ 17th-highest cap hit in 2026. The highest-paid kicker in NFL history ranks 17th on his own team’s cap. That tells you something about both how inexpensive the position is and how stacked Pittsburgh’s roster currently is.
The only real criticism of the deal is age. Boswell turns 36 in March 2027. But the historical data on elite kickers is actually reassuring here – Adam Vinatieri kicked effectively through 48, Jason Hanson through 42, and Tucker was still one of the league’s best through his mid-30s. Kickers age differently than skill position players, and Boswell’s mechanics are not the kind that deteriorate quickly.
He’s the first of several Steelers due for extensions this offseason. Cornerback Joey Porter Jr., pass rusher Nick Herbig, and defensive lineman Keeanu Benton – all 2023 draft picks – are next in line. Boswell went first.
The Postseason Record Is the Real Thing
19-for-19 on postseason field goal attempts. Longest consecutive streak to begin a playoff career in NFL history.
During the 2016 AFC Divisional round against Kansas City, he made six field goals. That set the NFL record for most field goals in a postseason game, a record that still stands. He has now played in games with six or more field goals made three times in his career – more than any other player ever. Pittsburgh won all three of those games, which involved zero offensive touchdowns from the Steelers. They just needed Boswell to keep scoring.
He has 70 career postseason points, fifth in Steelers franchise history. He will pass several players on that list in the next two seasons without anything unusual happening.
What I find genuinely strange about the postseason record is that it coexists with two difficult regular seasons (2018, 2022) and a 2025 regular season at 84.4%. Boswell in October is sometimes inconsistent. Boswell in January has been perfect. The explanation is probably mental rather than physical – he’s described in multiple reports as someone who narrows his focus dramatically in elimination situations – but the gap is real and unexplained in any satisfying way.
Greatest Kicker in Steelers History
Gary Anderson kicked for the Steelers across 13 seasons and nearly 200 games. He has held the franchise scoring record for decades. Roy Gerela was on three of the four 1970s Super Bowl teams. Both belong in this conversation.
Boswell is ahead of them. He owns the nine longest field goals in franchise history. He was the first Steelers kicker to lead the NFL in scoring. He earned the first first-team All-Pro for a Pittsburgh kicker. He is 94 points away from Anderson’s all-time franchise scoring record and 11 field goals away from Anderson’s franchise record for made field goals – both of which he will likely break in 2026 or 2027.
Anderson was excellent and durable. Gerela was part of something historic. But neither produced a Week 11 Ravens game, a 60-yard outdoor game-winner, or a 19-for-19 postseason line. Boswell is currently the fourth most accurate kicker in NFL history by overall field goal percentage among qualified kickers, and the most accurate ever on attempts of 50 yards or longer. Those are facts about the entire history of the position, not just the Steelers.
New Coordinator, Same Routine
Danny Smith, who coordinated Pittsburgh’s special teams for 14 seasons, was replaced by Danny Crossman ahead of 2026. Crossman has been direct about one thing: Boswell’s practice routine stays exactly as it was under Smith.
Boswell has a well-documented habit of skipping certain portions of practice entirely – a routine Smith allowed and built around over years. Crossman confirmed early in the offseason that he will not change it. That’s either unusual deference to a veteran or very good situational awareness from a coordinator who just arrived. Probably both.
Where He Stands League-Wide
Boswell ranks sixth all-time among the most accurate qualified kickers in NFL history by overall field goal percentage. On attempts of 50 yards or longer, he is the most accurate in league history – better than Tucker, better than Aubrey, better than everyone who has ever tried to make that kick regularly.
The comparison to Tucker comes up constantly. Tucker holds the career accuracy record overall and the distance record (66 yards, indoors, 2021). He went to nine Pro Bowls, was a five-time All-Pro, and is widely considered the best kicker who has ever played. Boswell is not quite that – Tucker’s sustained excellence across more seasons and more varied situations puts him ahead. But “not quite Tucker” still means historically elite, and Boswell’s postseason numbers are better than Tucker’s.
Aubrey, the Cowboys kicker who shares the highest-paid title with Boswell, has two fewer seasons of NFL data and has not yet been tested in a high-leverage postseason game the way Boswell has repeatedly. That’s not a knock – he may well prove everything out. But Boswell’s resume is just longer and more documented under pressure.
He made his first 60-yard field goal outdoors while trailing by one point with 63 seconds left. That particular kind of testing doesn’t show up in career accuracy percentages, but it’s the part Steelers fans have watched accumulate for a decade, and it’s why the $28 million felt, to most of Pittsburgh, like an obvious call.
Comments