Cardinals re-sign 10 players back to team

Tempe – The Arizona Cardinals announced that the team has re-signed the following eight players who were free agents: center Lyle Sendlein (five years), safety Hamza Abdullah (one year), cornerback Michael Adams (two years), tackle D’Anthony Batiste (one year), center Ben Claxton (one year), punter Ben Graham (two years), fullback Reagan Maui’a (two years), and tight end Stephen Spach (one year).

The Cardinals also reached deals with restricted free agents wide receiver Early Doucet and tackle Brandon Keith who have both signed their one-year qualifying offers.

Doucet registered career-highs with 26 receptions for 291 yards and a TD while starting a career-best five of 10 games played before an injury landed him on injured reserve in 2010. In his last 14 games, Doucet has totaled 46 receptions for 507 yards and four TDs.

Selected in the third round of the 2008 NFL Draft out of LSU, Doucet has appeared in 26 games with 57 receptions for 595 yards two TDs in three seasons with Arizona. In four postseason matchups, he has 15 receptions for 141 yards and two TDs.

Keith was selected by the Cardinals in the seventh round of the 2008 NFL Draft out of Northern Iowa and worked his way into the starting right tackle position at the beginning of the ’10 season.

He started the Cards first nine games at RT before a torn hamstring against the Seahawks in Week 10 ended his season. Now entering his fourth NFL season, Keith has appeared in 13 games with nine starts for Arizona.

Sendlein has made 54 consecutive starts, including the postseason and is one of three offensive linemen to start every game for the Cardinals since the beginning of the 2008 season.

He was named a team captain last season for the first time in his career. A Scottsdale, AZ native, Sendlein originally signed with Arizona as an undrafted rookie free agent out of Texas in 2007.

He has played in 60 games with 50 starts over the first four years of his career. He also started in all six of the Cardinals postseason games in 2008-09.

Abdullah played in six games last season after re-signing with the team in 2010. A seven-year NFL veteran, Abdullah originally joined the Cardinals in December of 2009 and played in one regular season game and two postseason contests that season.

He has spent time with Tampa Bay, Denver, and Cleveland after being drafted by the Buccaneers in the seventh-round of the 2005 NFL Draft out of Washington State.

For his career, Abdullah has played in 31 games with 62 tackles, seven passes defensed, one fumble recovery, one forced fumble and 16 special teams tackles.

Adams set career highs with 38 tackles, two interceptions and six passes defensed while recording four starts in 16 games played last season. He originally joined the Cardinals as an undrafted rookie free agent out of Louisiana-Lafayette in 2007 and has played in all 32 games over the past two seasons.

Known for his special teams play, Adams scored his first career TD last season while returning a fumbled kickoff for a touchdown in Minnesota. For his career with the Cardinals, Adams has played in 44 games and collected 74 tackles, three interceptions, 11 passes defensed, and 38 special teams tackles.

Batiste is back with Arizona after first signing with the team last November. He played in one game for the Cardinals and five others earlier in the season with the Broncos until he was released by Denver on October 16.

He has played in 18 career games with four starts since entering the NFL with the Dallas Cowboys as an undrafted rookie free agent out of Louisiana-Lafayette in 2006. He appeared in eight games in 2009 with the Washington Redskins until being released and signed to Denver’s practice squad.

He also started four games with the Atlanta Falcons in 2007 in addition to being on the active roster of the Carolina Panthers as a rookie in 2006.

Claxton was inactive for all 16 games last season with the Cardinals. He played in one game in 2009 and spent the rest of the season as a reserve linemen and backup center.

Claxton originally signed with the Cardinals on February 4, 2009 after spending the 2008 season on the Detroit Lions practice squad.

Drafted by the Denver Broncos in the fifth-round of the 2003 NFL Draft out of Mississippi, Claxton has played in three games during his NFL career.

Graham returns to the Cardinals after punting 94 times for 4,080 yards with 29 punts inside the 20-yard line last season.

The first Australian to ever appear in a Super Bowl, Graham has punted the past three seasons for Arizona including in 2009 when he tied the NFL single-season record with 42 punts inside the 20-yard line.

He began the 2008 season with the New York Jets and punted the first four games of the season before being released on September 29. He punted one game with the Saints that season before signing with the Cardinals.

He originally entered the NFL with the Jets as a 31-year old rookie in 2005 after playing 11 years in Australia with the Geelong Football Club where he played in 219 games (1993-2004). For his career, Graham has punted 429 times for 18,966 yards with 148 punts inside the 20-yard line.

Maui’a played in 15 games with four starts last season with the Cardinals after re-signing with the team on September 14 following training camp.

He originally signed with the Cardinals on August 5, 2009 during training camp but was released in the team’s final roster cut that year and was out of football.

Maui’a started two games in 2008 for the Cincinnati Bengals and was inactive for three others after being claimed off waivers from the Miami Dolphins on September 3, 2008. He originally entered the league with the Dolphins as a sixth round selection in the 2007 NFL Draft out of Hawaii.

He has appeared in 33 career games and has four carries for five yards and four receptions for 25 yards.

Spach started a career-high 11 of 15 games played in 2010 for the Cardinals with seven receptions for 40 yards. He played in seven games for the Cardinals in 2009 and had four catches for 38 yards. Spach originally came to Arizona as a free agent on October 28, 2008.

He entered the NFL as a rookie free agent with Philadelphia in 2005 out of Fresno State and played in 13 games, collecting seven receptions for 42 yards as a rookie. He was released by the Eagles in 2006 and spent training camp with the Minnesota Vikings in 2007 before signing with the New England Patriots where he appeared in three games that season.

For his career, Spach has appeared in 51 games and has 20 receptions for 135 yards and two touchdowns.

In addition, the team has also signed cornerback Bryant Nnabuife, an undrafted rookie free agent from California.

Nnabuife played in 29 career games at Cal where he had five starts and collected 59 tackles, five tackles for loss, one interception and three passes defensed.

He also scored two touchdowns off of blocked punts by teammates.

Last season as a senior, Nnabuife played in nine games with one start and had 24 tackles, three tackles for loss and one interception. He started his college career by playing one season at Blinn College in 2007 before transferring to Cal.

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