Shaun Suisham

Early life and college

Suisham was born in Wallaceburg, Ontario to Rick and Wendy Suisham. He attended Holy Family Catholic School before attending Wallaceburg District Secondary School. The 1999 conference offensive MVP, Suisham graduated from Wallaceburg District Secondary School. In 1998, Suisham kicked two field goals (from 58 and 27 yards) and helped Wallaceburg win the league championship for the first time since 1968. Starting from the spring 2000 semester, Suisham attended Bowling Green State University. Injured during spring practice, Suisham redshirted his freshman season and was on the active roster from 2001 to 2004. He played under coach Urban Meyer in 2001 and 2002.

In the 2004 CFL Draft, the Ottawa Renegades drafted Suisham and traded his rights to the Edmonton Eskimos. Suisham never signed with either team.

He left Bowling Green as the all-time leading scorer of the Falcons football team with 361 points and broke records with 45 career field goals and 31 touchbacks. In 2003, he was special teams MVP, and in 2004 he was Second-Team All-MAC. Suisham graduated from Bowling Green in 2005 with a degree in exercise science.

Pittsburgh Steelers (2005)

Suisham was signed by the Pittsburgh Steelers as an undrafted free agent in 2005. He was waived on August 28.

Dallas Cowboys (2005–2006)

He joined the Dallas Cowboys practice squad and signed with the team on October 24, 2005. After two weeks on the team, in which he went 2 for 2 on field goals, he was released so the Cowboys could sign Billy Cundiff. Cundiff struggled so Dallas re-signed Suisham for the last game of the regular season.

During the 2006 off-season, Suisham was re-signed by the Dallas Cowboys. Originally, he was supposed to be second on the depth chart behind Mike Vanderjagt. After Vanderjagt missed two potentially game-winning field goal attempts in a preseason game against the Minnesota Vikings, Suisham was named the starter for the Cowboys' season opener against the Jacksonville Jaguars on September 10, 2006. He attempted two kicks during the game, the first of which was good from a then-career-long 52 yards. The second attempt, which would have given the Cowboys the lead, hit the right upright of the goalpost. He went on to kick for five more weeks as a kick off specialist.

On October 12, 2006, the Cowboys released Suisham.

San Francisco 49ers (2006)

Suisham was signed to the San Francisco 49ers' practice squad on October 24, 2006.

Washington Redskins (2006–2009)

Suisham was signed on November 22, 2006 to the Washington Redskins' practice squad. The Redskins promoted him to the active roster on December 2, 2006. He missed his first attempt from 50 yards but went on to make 8 consecutive field goals to finish out the year. He kicked his first game-winning field goal from 39 yards in an overtime victory over the Miami Dolphins in the Redskins' season-opener on September 9, 2007.

He re-signed with the Redskins on March 16, 2009.

On December 6, 2009, Suisham missed a 23-yard field goal that likely would have sealed an upset win against the undefeated New Orleans Saints. The Redskins went on to lose the game in overtime, 33-30. The Redskins released Suisham on December 8, 2009, and replaced him with former UFL kicker Graham Gano.

Second stint with the Dallas Cowboys (2009)

On December 21, 2009, the Cowboys signed Shaun Suisham, after Nick Folk missed 10 field goals in 2009. Suisham was two out of three in the regular season. On January 17, 2010, he played in the NFC Divisional Playoff game against the Minnesota Vikings, his fourth game after replacing Nick Folk. He missed twice, including kicks from 48 and 49 yards, making one field goal from 33 yards.

He was not tendered by Dallas after the season, becoming a free agent.

Cleveland Browns (2010)

Suisham signed with the Cleveland Browns on May 18, 2010 and was released by the team on June 17, 2010.

St. Louis Rams (2010)

Suisham was signed by the St. Louis Rams on August 12, 2010 and released by the Rams on August 16, 2010. He was cut on August 17, 2010 due to a poor performance in the preseason.

In November 2010, Suisham tried out for the Detroit Lions to replace the injured Jason Hanson, but the job was ultimately given to Dave Rayner.

Second stint with the Pittsburgh Steelers (2010–2015)

On November 16, 2010, Suisham signed with the Pittsburgh Steelers after a tryout, as Jeff Reed had poor outings throughout the 2010 season. On November 28, 2010, Suisham kicked four 40+ yard field goals (45, 46, 48, and 41 yards) against Buffalo, including the game-winning kick in overtime. No other player in NFL history has kicked four field goals of 40 yards or longer, including an OT game-winner, in one game, but Suisham has done it twice. Suisham had a 5 field goal effort of 40+ yards for the Redskins in a 23-20 overtime victory over the Jets in 2007.

On December 5, 2010, Suisham made two field goals in the Steelers 13-10 victory against the Baltimore Ravens. He also handled the punting duties for the Steelers after Daniel Sepulveda tore his ACL.

On December 12, 2010, Suisham made three field goals in the Steelers' victory over the Bengals.

Suisham finished the regular season 14 of 15 on field goal attempts, with his only miss coming from 41 yards out in Week 16 against the Carolina Panthers.

On January 15, 2011, Suisham missed a 43-yard field goal in the divisional playoff round, the first postseason miss by a Steelers kicker since Jeff Reed's rookie year of 2002.

On February 6, 2011, Suisham missed a 52-yard field goal in Super Bowl XLV. The Steelers lost 31-25 to the Green Bay Packers.

On September 25, 2011, Suisham made a 38-yard game-winning field goal against the Indianapolis Colts with 4 seconds remaining in the 4th quarter.

The Steelers lost to the San Francisco 49ers 20-3 on December 19, 2011, and the only scoring by Pittsburgh came from Suisham's 51-yard field goal in the second quarter. However, Suisham missed a 48-yard attempt wide left.

On October 7, 2012, Suisham made a 34-yard game-winning field goal against the Philadelphia Eagles with 3 seconds left in the 4th quarter. The successful attempt made Suisham 8-for-8 on the season.

On October 11, 2012, Suisham failed to make a 54-yard attempt against the Tennessee Titans with the ball falling about one yard short of the uprights.

However, he made his next thirteen field goals following the miss, including game winners of 23 and 42 yards respectively against the Kansas City Chiefs and Baltimore Ravens.

Suisham connected on 30-of-32 field goal attempts in 2013, establishing a Steelers record with a 93.8% conversion mark. His 30 field goals made tied as the third-most in team history and his 129 points ranked fifth-most in a single season.

On August 1, 2014, the Steelers announced that Suisham’s contract had been extended for four years through the 2018 season.

On August 9, 2015, Suisham told NFL reporters that he believed he had torn his anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee while covering the opening kickoff in the Pro Football Hall of Fame Game. An MRI was taken on August 10 and showed he had torn his ACL. Suisham went on to miss the entire 2015 season.

Suisham was released by the Steelers on June 24, 2016 after a failed physical.