Steelers Cut Rookie Kicker, Boswell Secures Job

The Pittsburgh Steelers have waived kicker B.T. Potter, the team announced on Saturday.

Potter, a 5-f00t-10, 200-pound undrafted rookie out of Clemson, played in two of the Steelers’ three preseason games. He made two of three field goals, was three for three on extra points and had two touchbacks on six kickoffs.

The Steelers used their backup specialists for the first game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, when Potter was 2 for 2 on field goals, and then again for the second half against the Atlanta Falcons, when he missed from 43 yards on his only attempt.

It did not appear that the Steelers ever considered Potter to be in serious competition with incumbent starter Chris Boswell, despite a struggle of a 2022 season for Boswell that saw him finish with the second-lowest field goal percentage of his career and miss five games with injury.

“We acknowledge and I acknowledge that the ball didn’t go through the upright at times and largely as much as we would like it to,” head coach Mike Tomlin said earlier this offseason.

Potter had a five-year Clemson career and finished as one of the most prolific kickers in NCAA history. He closed his collegiate career making 73 of 97 (75.3%) and he also made 99.6% of his extra points. He finished as the Clemson career record hold for field goals, PATs and points by a placekicker. His 334 career touchbacks are an NCAA record.

He also set a College Football playoff record with a 52-yard field goal in Clemson’s CFP game against LSU in 2020.

The Steelers releasing Potter early does give him a better chance of catching on with another team before the start of the season. The San Francisco 49ers notably have two injured kickers and are coming to Acrisure Stadium on Sept. 10.

The Steelers must cut down from their 90-player offseason roster to the NFL-mandated 53-man limit by 4 p.m. on Tuesday.