Is Chris Boswell or Gary Anderson the greatest kicker in Steelers history?
A heated social media debate seems to suggest Boswell is better, but is he really?
There’s been an ongoing debate over the last couple days on Twitter/X about who the best kicker is in Steelers history and it’s between two very clear choices: Chris Boswell or Gary Anderson.
Most people lean towards Boswell but many have pushed back saying Anderson is better. The biggest issue is that they played in two totally different eras and kickers have significantly improved overall. However, let’s ignore historical context for a moment.
Most people who say Boswell is better wisely point to the single most important statistic for a kicker, which is field goal percentage. Anderson’s career field goal percentage is 80.1% (78.2 with the Steelers), whereas Boswell’s is currently at 86.6%.
Notice I say “currently.”
The problem with using FG% as the lone factor to determine who is a better kicker is that Boswell’s career is still ongoing and thus his FG% will obviously change. It could increase ( I certainly hope it does) but it could also decrease.
The greatest kickers tend to get better over time. This is true for Anderson and will hopefully be true for Boswell but that obviously remains to be seen.
In terms of a fixed FG%, one only need to look at completed seasons. Between Boswell and Anderson, if you rank their seasons based on highest FG% then the top spot belongs to Anderson with 100%, albeit with the Vikings, but he also has the 2nd highest with 95.7%. If you do a top 5, Anderson has 3 of the top 5 but the results are even with 5 seasons by each of them in the top 10.
If we now bring historical context into the argument, it looks even better for Anderson. Greatness is usually determined by how great a player was in comparison to his peers. For four different seasons, Anderson finished the year as one of the top two most accurate kickers in the league. Boswell has yet to finish in the top 2.
Gary Anderson was one of the most accurate kickers in NFL history throughout certain points of his career, often battling for the top title with Nick Lowery and Morten Andersen, but it was Gary who ended up with a higher career FG% amongst them.
In fact, Gary Anderson is the single most accurate kicker whose career was completed within the first 85 years of NFL history. Boswell just can’t say anything similar to that, at least not yet.
Also, Boswell’s career achievements pale in comparison to Anderson’s.
In addition to what I already mentioned above, here’s a list of only some of Gary Anderson’s other achievements:
3rd most points scored in NFL History (retired with the most)
Named to two All-Decade Teams (1980’s & 1990’s)
First kicker to have a perfect FG% in the regular season
Named to the Steelers All-Time Team
Most points scored in Steelers history
2nd most points in an NFL season without scoring TD
You could easily argue that Anderson also kicked the greatest field goal in Steelers history with his 50-yarder in sudden death overtime of the wild card game in the Houston Astrodome on New Year’s Eve 1989.
Boswell is currently in his 9th year. In his first 8 years, he scored 855 total points. Anderson scored 1,343 points in 13 years in Pittsburgh. Boswell is on pace to break that record in 2027. However, he will still be over a thousand points behind Anderson’s career total of 2,434.
If Boswell maintains his pace then he will surpass Anderson in total career points….in 2037. Remember, only two people in the entire history of the NFL have ever scored more points than Gary Anderson (Adam Vinatieri and Morten Andersen). Such an achievement shouldn’t be taken lightly.
Both are great kickers and both deserve praise from Steeler Nation. That’s really the point here.
Yet, you know what the worst part of the Boswell-Anderson debate is?
Two weeks ago, Gary Anderson was again named a nominee for the Pro Football Hall of Fame. It’s an incredible shame that he isn’t already in. Yet, Steeler Nation would rather talk about the greatness of Boswell, with some even flat-out claiming he’s better than Anderson strictly based on a fluctuating percentage, instead of help push Anderson to the Hall of Fame.
Time will tell what Boswell’s career FG% ends up as but, until then, perhaps it’s best to admit that he has 15 years to go to surpass Anderson in total points scored. You can’t compare field goal percentages between the two until Boswell comes somewhat closer to Anderson’s career points total, or at least wait a few years until he is closer to Anderson’s Steelers record to determine the best kicker in franchise history.
I think it’s very likely that Boswell becomes the Steelers all-time leading scorer but so much can happen until then. Instead of attempting to predict what will happen, I’ll happily sit back and cheer for him to do it and hopefully, by then, Gary Anderson will be in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.