LATROBE, Pa. -- Chris Boswell has ice water running through his veins.
He proved that time and again last season when he kicked five field goals in the closing minutes of games that either pulled the Steelers into a tie or lifted them into the lead in a game. Three of those kicks came at midseason with the clock reading 0:00 to win games for the Steelers, something that hadn't been done in the NFL since 2004.
It's the kind of things young kickers dream of, much like a basketball player going through the motions of taking a last-second, game-winning shot.
Now, however, it's time for Boswell to think about getting paid. He was a a restricted free agent this offseason and the Steelers, not wanting to lose a guy who set team records for field goals made (35) and points (142) in a season, tendered him with the highest offer, meaning he'll make $2.9 million in 2018.
It's a big raise from the $615,000 he made a year ago in his third season with the Steelers. But it doesn't address his long-term future.
But much like when he steps up to attempt a big kick, Boswell isn't sweating the details right now.
"Honestly, it’s out of my hands," Boswell said Thursday at Saint Vincent College prior to the Steelers holding their first practice of training camp. "I’m signed up for this year. I’m going to play this year and whatever they want to do is up to them. I’ve got to kind of ride it out and, either way, I’m going to come out here, do what I can do and get better every day and the rest will take of itself."
That could be coming soon. Though the Steelers haven't approached Boswell's agent yet, sources say they will do so soon about locking the 27-year-old placekicker up to a long-term deal.
It's likely to be a little different than the $3,000 signing bonus he got from the Houston Texans in 2014 when he was initially signed as an undrafted rookie out of Rice.
"We just got into camp and they want to let everything settle in and get going from there," Boswell said. "It could change in the next couple of days and we’ll take it from there."
What can he expect to make? New England's Stephen Gostkowski has the highest average on his deal at $4.3 million per season, with Baltimore's Justin Tucker and Carolina's Graham Gano just behind at $4.25 million each.
But for each one of those highly paid kickers, there are several others making the league minimum or close to it. Many teams have multiple placekickers in camp right now. And 29 of those guys are making $1 million or less, while 19 are making $2 million or more.
In many cases, teams will go with the cheaper option, as the Chargers did last season when they released veteran kicker Josh Lambo at the end of training camp last season, going instead of rookie Younghoe Koo. Four games into the season, after the rookie missed multiple field goals that led to a 2-2 start, they released Koo and signed veteran Nick Novak.
It's all part of the process for kickers and one Boswell understands all too well. He was released by the Texans his rookie season and signed to their practice squad, signing later that season with the Giants, who quickly released him again. He then won a midseason tryout with the Steelers, becoming their fourth placekicker in 2015, and he's been with the team since.
He feels pretty secure in Pittsburgh, which didn't bring another kicker to camp, but knows the position is a tenuous one — especially without a long-term contract.
"There’s definitely a big jump to the highest paid to maybe the average kicker in the league. And not just average based on skill, but pay-wise," Boswell said. "It just depends on the team and what they feel is important. Some teams, they’re not going to pay the kicker. They’re going to let him walk and find someone else. Then you’ve got Gostkowski and he’s been making kicks forever and he’s the highest-paid kicker in the league. It’s just based on the team and what they think is special and important and whether they feel they can find that somewhere else on the street, really."
He's all too aware a bad stretch can spell the end. The kicker fraternity is a small one around the league. And he's seen guys get tossed aside quickly.
Because of that, Boswell knows he's only as good as his next kick, though he seems to get a little more job security with each game-winner he makes.
"I feel like I’m still earning. I don’t feel like I’ve earned anything," he told me. "This business is still day-to-day and week-to-week. You’ve earned what you’ve done in the past, but going forward, you haven’t earned anything. You’ve got to just keep making a name for yourself and just keep proving yourself over and over."
That's why he doesn't dwell on the game-winners, even though they're something he dreamed about from the time he first started kicking a football. There's just too much at stake to get caught up in the thrill of it all.
"Not really," he told me when I asked if he looked back on those kicks as anything special. "Of course I thought about it and accomplished something that I’d dreamed of. Four years ago when I got cut by four teams, it definitely wasn’t in the picture. So definitely I looked at it from a big-picture standpoint, but not anything specific. I just kind of kick it and when they need me, they need me, and I just put it through no matter what."
MATT SUNDAY GALLERY
Steelers training camp, Latrobe, Pa., July 26, 2018. - MATT SUNDAY / DKPS