The Pittsburgh Steelers replaced an injured quality veteran kicker with another experienced player as they signed Garrett Hartley to reportedly a one-year deal after Shaun Suisham was injured in their preseason game and will be missing the entire 2015 season.
Suisham sustained an anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) tear during Sunday's preseason exhibition against the Minnesota Vikings and will undergo a left knee surgery.
Pittsburgh announced the signing of Hartley last Tuesday but no other information about the deal was released.
Hartley entered the league as an undrafted free agent in 2008 and was signed by the Denver Broncos but was released before training camp.
The New Orleans Saints signed him October of that year as a replacement and he stayed with the team until he was let go in December 2013.
Hartley's stint with the Saints came with a huge Super Bowl XLIV victory against the Indianapolis Colts in 2010.
Nearly a year after his release from New Orleans, the 29-year-old kicker was signed by the Cleveland Browns in December of 2014 and played only two games for his new team before being waived last March.
Hartley has had great numbers and is a career 81.7 percent kicker in the National Football League (NFL).
He is 8-for-8 in postseason games and last season with the Browns was 3-for-3 despite playing only two games.
Hartley is a great replacement for Suisham as shown by his numbers but he will have a tall task ahead in terms of production.
Suisham again had a great showing last season going 29-for-32 (90.6 percent) in his field goal attempts and was one of the most efficient kickers in the NFL.
But Steelers guard David DeCastro said in a report by ESPN that their offensive mindset will remain the same with or without Suisham.
"You're always trying to score in the red zone — if you're thinking about kicking field goals, that's not really the right mindset," DeCastro said, according to ESPN.
