Detroit Lions punter Kasey Redfern is out for the season after tearing both his ACL and MCL during the team’s week one victory over the Arizona Cardinals. Redfern suffered the injury with six minutes remaining in the first quarter, when the rookie fumbled a snap in the endzone and was forced to scramble 21 yards to avoid the safety.
Some Lions punter news: Kasey Redfern suffered a torn ACL & MCL & partial tear of patellar tendon. Tough break for a guy everyone rooted for
— Dave Birkett (@davebirkett) September 11, 2017
Detroit Lions Punter Kasey Redfern Out for Season
Redfern was an undrafted free agent back in 2014 after punting for four years at Wofford. The North Carolina native then spent the following three seasons as a practice squad member of the Jaguars, Chargers, Panthers and Browns. Sunday’s game against Arizona marked Redfern’s NFL debut. The 25-year-old totaled one punt for 50 yards in his only successful attempt.
After Redfern went down, the Lions resorted to kicker Matt Prater to handle punting duties for the rest of the afternoon. But Prater struggled- averaging only 34.8 yards per punt -and the team will search elsewhere to find a competent replacement.
Sam Martin, who has served as Detroit’s starting punter the last four seasons, is out at least five weeks due to a foot injury he sustained over the off-season. On Monday, the Lions worked out four punters to fill the void until Martin returns: Matt Darr, Drew Butler, Jeff Locke and Richie Leone.
Darr averaged 46 yards per punt between 2015 and 2016 for the Dolphins. Butler averaged 42.9 yards per punt over four years with the Steelers and Cardinals. Locke averaged 43.2 yards per punt during four seasons with the Vikings and Leone last played in the CFL, where he was an All-Star in both 2015 and 2016.
It looks as if Detroit will sign their new starting punter soon. Then, the team can focus their attention on an important Monday Night matchup next week against the New York Giants.
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