1:39pm: According to Ray Fittipaldo of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (via Twitter), Scobee has agreed to restructure his contract as part of the trade. As noted below, he only had one year remaining on his deal, so it appears he either agreed to a pay cut or received an extension. We’ll have to wait for further details, but if Scobee did get an extension, it would complicated Suisham’s return next year.
9:40am: The Jaguars are getting a late-round pick from the Steelers in the deal, according to Adam Schefter of ESPN.com (Twitter link).
9:32am: The Steelers have acquired kicker Josh Scobee from the Jaguars, as Ryan O’Halloran of The Florida Times-Union writes. The kicker also confirmed the trade to Jeff Prosser of 1010XL. The Jaguars’ return in the deal is not yet known.
Scobee, 33, was the longest-tenured player on the Jaguars. Now that the former 2004 fourth-round pick is headed to Pittsburgh, that title belongs to tight end Marcedes Lewis, who is in his tenth season with the team. The deal also means that rookie Jason Myers has ostensibly won the kicking competition in Jacksonville. Scobee currently stands as franchise leader in field goals (235) and points scored (1,022).
Meanwhile, the Steelers have now added a kicker in the wake of Shaun Suisham‘s season-ending ACL tear. The Steelers brought in Garrett Hartley to fill his spot, but Hartley suffered a hamstring injury over the weekend. In the preseason with Jacksonville, Scobee was 2-for-2 on field goals with makes from 36 and 52 yards. Last season, Scobee only converted on 20 of 26 field goals in total for an overall mark of 76.9%. To his credit, two of those misses came from 40-49 yards out and three of them were from 50+ range.
Scobee is entering the final year of his contract and is scheduled to hit the open market after the 2015 season.
