View topic - Steelers Sign K Garrett Hartley

[Steelers76 Profile]

To replace K Shawn Suisham who is out on I.R., The Steelers signed veteran Kicker Garrett Hartley. Hartley, who won a Super Bowl with The Saints in The 2009 season, has a career FG % of 81.7.

I thought there were better kickers out there who The Steelers should've signed, but I guess we will see how this works out. I felt the same thing when they signed Jeff Reed in the middle of the 2002 season, and he gave the team several good years. Besides, there are a lot of kickers who will be available when training camp ends, as they can easily deep six Hartley if they don't like what they see at any time.

Thoughts?

[SoCal Stiller Profile]

I read somewhere that he has the second highest percentage made on grass fields. He missed a couple of high profile kicks in the playoffs for the Saints, but he also made 3 40+ yarders for the Saints in the Superbowl. I think his effectiveness on grass fields is probably why the Steelers signed him over the others.

[Steelers76 Profile]

I heard he was perfect in terms of FGs made in the post-season? Not sure about that, though.

My biggest worry about him is the fact that despite playing in the league since 2008, he's only played in all 16 regular season games one time back in 2012.

I personally would've signed Shayne Graham, who has a career FG % of around 86. But like I said with Reed in 2002, maybe they saw something we didn't.

[isfry Profile]

I also thought this was a more important than usual injury (to Swiss Ham), given the 33 yard extra points beginning this season. We might see a lot of 2 pointers...