The Arizona Cardinals are shaking things up on special teams. They have made a change at punter.
The Cardinals announced a few roster moves on Tuesday. Among them. they released punter Nolan Cooney and signed former New Orleans Saint punter Blake Gillikin.
Buy Cardinals TicketsGillikin signed with the Saints in 2020 as an undrafted rookie out of Penn State and spent his rookie season on injured reserve. He was the Saints’ punter in 2021-2022, playing in all 34 games. Over those two seasons, he averaged 47.0 yards per punt and had a 41.7 net average. He had 61 punts downed inside the 20. His 32 punts downed inside the 20 last year were fourth in the NFL.
He is 25 years old.
Cooney won the punting battle with veteran Matt Haack in training camp.
In four games, he averaged 45.5 yards per punt with a 40.3-yard net average. He had two punts downed inside the 20.
On Sunday, he did have one bad punt that only went 20 yards on Sunday.
We will see how Gillikin does. He will also likely handle holding duties, which could create issues in the kicking game with Matt Prater.
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