Pittsburgh Steelers: Shaun Suisham Injury Creates Void
By Rich Donahue
The Pittsburgh Steelers worst fears were confirmed Monday afternoon regarding kicker Shaun Suisham.
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According to multiple reports, the veteran tore his left ACL in last evening’s 14-3 loss to the Minnesota Vikings. Suisham was injured on the second-half opening kickoff while attempting to make tackle going out of bounds.
With Suisham set for surgery later this week, the Steelers will now be in the market for a kicker. Currently, the Steelers have no other kickers on their roster.
Though some view kickers as a dime-a-dozen, losing Suisham for the season could be a crushing blow. Since opening in 2001, no Steeler has been more accurate at Heinz Field than the Canadian-born kicker. Suisham has hit 87.3% of his kicks at Heinz while all others are 75.6%. And with the unpredictable winds that blow in from the Ohio, kicking at Heinz is no easy task.
The question is who will the Steelers bring in to replace Suisham? You can be sure that the team will be auditioning kickers this week in St. Vincent and in their game against Jacksonville Friday. Three guys that could be brought in are veterans Billy Cundiff, Jay Feely and Shayne Graham.
Cundiff began the 2014 season as the Browns kicker but was released with three games left. Feely was cut by the Cardinals at the start of 2014 before signing with the Bears after Robbie Gould was injured. Graham spent all of last season with the Saints. Both Cundiff and Graham have the most experience kicking at Heinz Field.
Whether it is one of these three or someone else, it will be tough for anyone to duplicate the success of Suisham. Over the last three seasons, Suisham has made over 90% of his field goals in each season. His 90.3% was tied for fifth in the NFL last season.
UPDATE: This in from Ian Rapoport from NFL.com and the NFL Network…
#Steelers kicker workouts tomorrow now Shaun Suisham is done for the season: Jay Feely, Alex Henery, and Garrett Hartley, at least.
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) August 10, 2015
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