Kicker Matt Prater has signed a two-year deal with the Arizona Cardinals worth $7 million. The deal will keep Prater with the team through 2022. Prater, a fourteen-year veteran, has been with the Detroit Lions since 2014.
Matt Prater Signs With Arizona Cardinals
Prater is coming off his worst season in terms of kicking percentage in over a decade. He went 21-for-28 on field goals, a 75% rate. Still, he made some big kicks throughout the season. He hit four field goals in Week 3 including the game-winner. Then in Week 10, he hit a 59-yard game-winner. By the end of the season, he set the NFL record for most 50+-yard field goals.
Prater played in college with UCF and went undrafted in 2006. The Lions were the first to give him a shot, but was cut at the end of the preseason and did not get called again all season. Prater got his first opportunity as a starter with the Atlanta Falcons in 2007, only made one out of four field goals, and was cut after two games. The Denver Broncos signed him in December, and in 2008 he became their starter.
Prater first got some more attention in 2011 when he hit some game-tying or game-winning kicks during the Tim Tebow streak – including a 59-yard game-tying kick against the Chicago Bears, followed by another 51-yarder in overtime. 2013 was his best career season, as he only missed one kick all season and also set the NFL record for longest kick at 64 yards. He got Pro Bowl and Second-Team All-Pro honors as a result.
However, Prater started the 2014 season with a four-game suspension and was ultimately cut. The Lions, where he has been the starter ever since. In the final game of the 2015 season, he sat a Detroit franchise record with a 59-yard field goal. 2016 saw him have the most field goal makes of his career at 31, giving him a second Pro Bowl berth.
Thus far in his career, Prater has made 321 out of 386 field goals (83.2%) and 491 out of 503 extra points (97.6%).
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