Taking A Look At The Steelers Replacement Kicking Candidates

The injury bug bit the Steelers Sunday night as steady kicker Shaun Suisham tore his ACL at the HOF game while trying to make a second-half tackle.

Suisham will be hard to replace. His specialized directional kicking and experience at the often tricky Heinz field has been an ace in the whole since 2010, making him the most accurate field-goal kicker in Steeler history. The 33 year old converted 59 of 64 field-goal tries over the past two years and just signed a new four year contract last August.

The Steelers are holding kicker workouts Tuesday in an effort to find a stop-gap replacement for Suisham. Among the invited are Garrett Hartley, Alex Henery, and Jay Feely. Veteran kickers Billy Cundiff and Shayne Graham should also be up for consideration.

Graham, 37, has been around the league. He’s been with a total of 14 teams, including the Steelers for one game in 2013 after a hamstring injury for Suisham.

Feely, 39, has is also a well traveled player, being with seven teams.

Henery seems to be a gamble. He was drafted in the 2011 NFL draft in the fourth round by the Eagles, but they cut him last August. The Lions picked him up in September, but cut him after he missed three field goals in an October loss to Buffalo.

Hartley and Cundiff both played with the Browns in the 2014 season.

One silver lining is the timing of the injury. Although the Steelers broke the norm and didn’t have any additional kickers in camp, they have a month before the regular season starts on September 10th to find a replacement for the season. Even then, the team can pick up a veteran after the season starts. Whomever wins the spot will need to also have the ability to kick off. Punters Brad Wing and Jordan Berry have no experience in that area.