Steelers boot Jeff Reed, sign Shaun Suisham

Posted by Mike Florio on November 16, 2010, 12:10 PM EST

On Sunday night, Steelers kicker Jeff Reed said he hopes to retire as a member of the Steelers.

If so, he’d better retire now.

Jay Glazer of FOX reports that the Steelers have cut Reed and signed Shaun Suisham.  Per the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Suisham was the only kicker brought to Pittsburgh for a Tuesday Gong Show tryout.  He worked out for coach Mike Tomlin and director of football operations Kevin Colbert at Heinz Field on Tuesday.

Suisham made 18 of 21 field goals for the Redskins in 2009, but he was cut after missing a short field goal in overtime of a potential upset over the Saints.  Suisham finished the season with the Cowboys, making two of three fields goals in two regular-season games and missing two of three in a playoff loss to the Vikings, including a 48-yard attempt that would have given the Cowboys a 3-0 lead.

As the team’s franchise player in 2010, Reed received a guaranteed salary of $2.814 million.  If he’s claimed on waivers, Reed’s new team will have to pay him $1.15 million over the balance of the season.  If he goes unclaimed, Reed will pocket the balance of his salary from the Steelers — and he’ll be able to get paid by his next team.

The Bengals currently don’t have a kicker on the roster.  But we can’t imagine the Bengals paying any kicker $1.15 million for seven games.

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30 responses to “Steelers boot Jeff Reed, sign Shaun Suisham”

  2. I dont think they got a better kicker they both are probably even but Heinz Field is not a good place to kick field goals in the first place. If any kicker should be cut its Folk.

  4. Reed’s whining was almost as annoying as bad as the Pats fans whining over Troys hair (both the hair on his head and around his vagina) potentially getting ruffed up when he runs the ball. Granted, the Steelers got totally out played from start to finish on Sunday, but Reed has been a thorn, a thorn with a gut, in the side of the Steelers for too long.

  9. Isn’t Suisham the guy for the skins that missed a 23 yard field goal that allowed the saints to come back and remain undefeated last year? Nice upgrade

  11. Perfect. I used to know he was going to make the FG, now I hope he does. That’s a good indication it’s time to move on.

    I just hope he was McFadden and Gay’s ride to the games. Be nice if they stayed away as well.

  12. #
    headbanger51 says: Nov 16, 2010 12:20 PM

    Reed’s whining was almost as annoying as bad as the Pats fans whining over Troys hair (both the hair on his head and around his vagina) potentially getting ruffed up when he runs the ball. Granted, the Steelers got totally out played from start to finish on Sunday, but Reed has been a thorn, a thorn with a gut, in the side of the Steelers for too long.
    ____________________________________

    Why are you talking about the hair around Troy’s va jay jay, and when was he trying to run the ball?

    Side note, as much as Steelers fans whine about Harrison “getting held on every play” I would expect them to simply zip it when another teams fan base is “whining”. Plus, I used to agree with the idea that Harrison is always getting held, but after watching Sunday nights game, Steelers fans can never talk again, because the O-line in Pittsburgh was holding on for dear life all night long. When will the league issue an apology to the Pats for not calling the multiple holds on every play

  13. The problem really is Roethlisberger scoring three points over the first three quarters against the Saints and the Patriots.

    Dixon, Leftwich, and Batch could do that.

  14. How disgusted does Pitt have to be with this dude to cut him loose after franchising him? Wow, pretty disgusted. Can’t say as I blame them.

  16. So my comment gets deleted cause I mentioned what Big Ben likes to do to women but headbanger’s half page of half witted rabbling gets in? thats just super.

  17. “The Bengals currently don’t have a kicker on the roster.”

    —-

    Ah, but they have Estaban Ochocinco. He was lobbying Marvin Lewis hard on place kicking against the Colts Sunday but the opportunity didn’t come up. I have to admit, the guy did everything but kick on Sunday, 85 was a beast.

  18. Now we can listen to all the Steelers fans talk about how they’ll cruise to the Super Bowl now. If the Steelers were smart they would sign Reed to help their porous offensive line. Seymour will be counting the days until Sunday. Run Ben run!!!

  20. “I wish I could get fired from my job and still get paid for the rest of the year. But he’ll find work, somewhere.”

    @godofwine330 its called a severance package for everyone else…a lot of people get them

  21. I think he’s finally going to answer his true calling: playing bongos in a bluegrass band.

  22. Suisham’s miss was late in the 4th quarter, not overtime. But it sure was a lucky break for the Saints at that time. They didn’t deserve to win that game — not that any Saints fans were complaining, of course.

  23. I know he is having his troubles this year but that is not the problem. The problem is the helpless O-line that we struggle with all the time. If we had a decent line how good could Ben really be, i think they need to look at somebody else besides William Gay he got destroyed all night long. Why can`t Lebeau find an answer for Brady, did we not look at the game film from the Cleveland game, they rushed for over 200 yards on there D.

  24. If is wasn’t for Suisham, Dallas Cowboys America’s team would have won the superbowl last season.

  25. While Jeff had some great seasons, he had his problems more recently. Notwithstanding the off-the-field issues, his accuracy seems to have gone down, his kick-offs generally have not reached the end zone (and frankly generally never did from what I recall), and he bad-mouthed the fans after the loss to the Pats. That aspect, which goes to show his attitude, might have had a great deal to do with his release. The last thing the Steelers need is a player criticizing the fans, especially after that ass-kicking and after Reed missed a chip shot FG. Of course since all he gets paid to do is kick, if he misses one it is a big deal. That is an occupational hazard that he has to accept.

    The Steelers will survive without Jeff, and he will survive without the Steelers. Good luck to him, and welcome to Suisham.

    GO STEELERS!!

  26. @FinFan68: “Isn’t Suisham the guy for the skins that missed a 23 yard field goal that allowed the saints to come back and remain undefeated last year? Nice upgrade”

    You are correct, albeit a douche. He also was the one the Steelers almost signed in 05 but Reed kicked a bit better in his tryout, so the team knows and at least liked him at some point. But if he was on the Steelers instead of the Skins, he woulnd’t have had to kick that 23 yarder because they would have already had the lead against the Saints.

  28. abninf says:
    Nov 16, 2010 1:27 PM
    If is wasn’t for Suisham, Dallas Cowboys America’s team would have won the superbowl last season.

    ===============================

    I like him already!

  29. @citizenstrange …

    I’m not happy with anyone’s play Sunday night, but how many passes did the receivers drop??? And how many times did the pocket collapse on Roethlisberger? Come on, I know everyone loves to blame the QB for everything, but if “receiver” is part of your title, you’re supposed to be able to hang onto the ball even if you’re name isn’t Ward. When the offense and defense you’re calling isn’t working, you have to make adjustments … right, Bruce? Dick? And replacing “Reed missed it” won’t be enough if we don’t do something about that Swiss-cheese o-line. The rookie’s all alone out there.

  30. If anyone thinks Suisham is a better kicker than Reed they are out of their minds. Reed had his problems and that shank was one of the worst kicks I have ever seen – but one bad half year out of a rather stellar nine year career until now doesn’t add up to a release. He has hit on 82 percent of his kicks. Know who else has done that in his career? Vinateiri. Yeah, that guy. Skme slouch he is. Something else was going on to warrant this. If not, this smells of desperation.

    Suisham wont make any Steelers fan any happier. He is not going to be the NFLs 13th most accurate kicker In history, that much I can tell you (I think he is currently 34th on the career percentage list)

    Dumb move by a desperate team.

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