The Arizona Cardinals have cut Punter Scott Player from the team today and signed free agent punter Mike Barr. This really came out of left field, Player was always a solid punter and seemed to have the job locked up for the 2007 season. Maybe it was the fact that Scott was making $750,000 this year. Maybe it had to do with the coaches disliking his Hulk Hogan mustache. Either way this seems like a very risky move and I don’t understand it. The punter is a huge part of football, especially a punter like Player who was also the holder for kicker Neil Rackers. Rackers felt very comfortable with Player as the holder, and the last thing the Cardinals need is Neil getting his head all screwed up and start talking in the second person again (a problem Neil has) because the holder is tilting the ball the wrong way. A bad holder can mean everything as we saw last year in the playoffs with the Cowboys and Tony Romo. Kickers, holders, and long snappers take thousands of reps to get the timing down for their kicks. If you substitute one of those guys it completely changes everything.

As far as the punting goes I wouldn’t say Player was a great punter but I don’t think he was bad. Bringing in a new guy who has never punted a ball in the NFL  brings in a high chance of shanks, line drive punts, touchbacks, and long snaps that slip threw the hands. On the bright side maybe the Cardinals won’t have a punter that runs away from punt returners’ when they’re coming his way. All I can figure at this point is Scott Player must have ticked someone off in the Arizona Cardinals organization, other than that I can’t see any real reason why he should have been cut. Salary cap space does not seem to be an issue for the Cardinals at the moment.

Original post by Eli Wahlstrom

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