Steelers Bring Back Kicker for Fourth Time

The Pittsburgh Steelers have one of the best place kickers in the league with Chris Boswell. But on April 10, the Steelers announced they have added kicker Matthew Wright to the roster.

“We have signed K Matthew Wright,” the official Steelers X (formerly Twitter) account wrote.

Wright is returning for his fourth stint with the team. He began his NFL career as an undrafted free agent with the Steelers in 2019. Wright then appeared in games for the Steelers during the 2020 and 2022 seasons.

In addition to the Steelers, Wright has kicked during the regular season for the Jacksonville Jaguars, Kansas City Chiefs, and Carolina Panthers.

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Matthew Wright Returns to Steelers for Fourth Stint

The Steelers signed Wright after the 2019 NFL draft. At the time, Boswell was coming off a rough 2018 campaign, so Wright had a realistic chance of winning the Steelers place kicker job.

Boswell, though, won the job and has remained Pittsburgh’s kicker. But when needed, the Steelers have brought back Wright.

In 2020, Wright filled in for an injured Boswell in three games toward the end of the regular season. Wright did the same for four contests with Boswell sidelined during 2022.

In those seven contests, Wright made 16 of his 18 field-goal attempts. He also connected all 14 of his extra points.

His 88.89% success rate on field goals in Pittsburgh is the best percentage Wright has posted for any NFL team in his career.

In between his Steelers tenures in 2020 and 2022, Wright kicked for the Jaguars during 2021. It’s the only season of his career where he spent the entire campaign with one team.

With the Jaguars, Wright went 21-for-24 (87.5%) on field-goal tries. He was also 13-for-15 on extra-point attempts.

Before and after kicking for the Steelers in 2022, Wright spent time with the Chiefs. He went 3-for-4 on field goals and 8 of 8 on extra-point tries in two games.

Wright didn’t kick for Kansas City during the 2022-23 playoffs, but he was on the team’s practice squad through the AFC championship game.

During 2023, Wright spent time with the Panthers, San Francisco 49ers, Atlanta Falcons and New England Patriots. But he only appearance in one regular season game. That was for the Panthers, and he missed his lone field-goal attempt.

In 24 NFL games, Wright has converted on 85.1% of his field goals. He’s also made 35 of 37 extra points (94.6%).

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Steelers Commitment to Kicker Chris Boswell

Boswell hasn’t made the Pro Bowl since 2017. But he’s kicked at a Pro Bowl level multiple times since then.

Boswell posted a field-goal percentage of 90% or better in four of the past five seasons. Last year, he made 29 of 31 field goals (93.5), and one of his two misses was a 61-yard attempt just before halftime.

He also missed just 1 extra point last year. In fact, Boswell has connected on 45 of his last 46 extra-point tries dating back to the start of 2022.

With his success since 2017, Boswell has signed multiple contracts with the Steelers. His current deal runs through the 2026 season. In 2024, Boswell will have a $4.72 million cap hit.

Therefore, even if Boswell suddenly hits a slump during training camp and the preseason, it’s unlikely that the Steelers hold a place kicker competition.

If the Steelers release Boswell, they will actually have a bigger dead cap hit than cap hit with him on the roster. So, it will likely take Boswell significantly struggling in the regular season for his job to be threatened.

In all likelihood, the Steelers have added Wright to the roster again just to simply have kicker depth for the summer.

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