One of the biggest risks in the preseason is the possibility of losing key players to injury in what are in essence, meaningless exhibition games. Seemingly every year key players are lost throughout the league, often for the season due to serious injuries.
Sadly, it looks like the Steelers may have be the first team to have to deal with that unfortunate reality.
That’s because kicker Shaun Suisham could be lost for extended time due to a “potentially significant” knee injury after attempting to make a tackle in the second half of the Steelers 14-3 loss to the Minnesota Vikings last night.
According to Ian Rapoport, Suisham fears that he tore his ACL.
The team has yet to announce the extent of Suisham’s injury, but there is reason to believe the injury will keep one of the leagues more reliable and accurate kickers on the shelf for the foreseeable future. Worst case scenario, any type of tear in the knee would almost be certain to end Suisham’s 2015 campaign and force the Steelers to find a replacement on the fly.
It seems that regardless of the final prognosis, the Steelers will need to bring in a kicker to camp immediately to fill the void left due to Suisham’s injury.
So who might be available?
After selecting not to bring any additional kickers into camp this year, the Steelers will have to find a free agent to fill the void. Among the potential options include veteran free agents Shayne Graham, Jay Feely and Garret Hartley.
Graham has been the definition of a journeyman kicker, playing with nine different teams over his 14-year career. Graham had much of his success with the Cincinnati Bengals and was named to the Pro-Bowl once in his seven years there. Graham last played with the New Orleans Saints last season and converted 19 of 22 kicks for the Saints.
Needless to say, kicking at the notoriously difficult for kickers Heinz Field is a far cry from the Superdome, but Graham has plenty of experience kicking in the poor conditions of the AFC North from his time in Cincinnati. At 37, age and wear are major concerns, but his career conversion rate of nearly 86 percent places him ninth all-time in NFL history for accuracy.
Much like Graham, Feely is a well-traveled kicker who recently turned 39. Feely played briefly with the Bears last season but had some of his best years from 2010-13 with the Arizona Cardinals. Over his career with six different teams, Feely has converted 82.6 percent of his kicks.
Hartley spent the better part of three seasons as the Saints primary kicker, but struggled with consistency, only averaging a conversion rate just a touch over 80 percent over that span. Hartley has a strong leg, and is only 29, but might be a long shot to fit with the Steelers considering his accuracy issues.
There may be other less known options as teams begin to make cuts during the preseason but it’s clear the options might be limited replacing Suisham’s quiet consistency as the Steelers placekicker if the injury is long term.
