Cutting Graham could affect Cardinals’ Jay Feely
Sep 2, 2011, 10:58 PM | Updated: Sep 3, 2011, 12:23 am
The Arizona Cardinals parted with punter Ben Graham Friday, cutting their punter of the last 2+ seasons in favor of veteran Dave Zastudil.
Sure, Graham had his struggles last season and wasn’t particularly sharp this training camp, but there was a thought that he’d have an edge in the competition. He was, after all, the holder on special teams, meaning he spotted the ball before Jay Feely would kick it through the uprights.
Apparently not, and that surprised Arizona Sports 620’s Doug Franz.
“With Jay Feely’s, how natural it is with Jay Feely being able to kick from the hold of Ben Graham, they’ve been working together for a couple years, I kind of just felt that was the tie breaker,” he said.
Graham’s struggles must have left him trailing Zastudil at a far enough distance to where whatever concern over how it would affect Feely was negated.
The concern may be valid, though, seeing as the change from Scott Player to Mike Barr a few years ago seemed to really mess with then-kicker Neil Rackers.
Then again, Feely seems to have a stronger mentality than his predecessor in Arizona, and the coaching staff has to be confident this change won’t have an adverse affect on his ability to put the football squarely between the uprights.
