Drew Butler

Drew Butler
No. 2 Arizona Cardinals
Position: Punter
Personal information
Date of birth: (1989-05-10) May 10, 1989
Place of birth: Duluth, Georgia
Height: 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)
Weight: 217 lb (98 kg)
Career information
High school: Suwanee (GA) Peachtree Ridge
College: Georgia
Undrafted: 2012
Career history
 * Offseason and/or practice squad member only
Roster status: Active
Career highlights and awards
Career NFL statistics as of Week 11, 2016
Punts: 236
Average punt: 42.8
Punt yards: 10,106
Longest punt: 79
Inside 20: 90
Player stats at NFL.com

Andrew Butler (born May 10, 1989) is an American football punter for the Arizona Cardinals of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the University of Georgia and was recognized as a consensus All-American punter. The Pittsburgh Steelers signed him as an undrafted free agent following the 2012 NFL Draft. Butler started the 2013 season with the Steelers, but was cut before the first week. Later in 2013, Butler was signed to the Bears but was released prior to getting any playing time. This was repeated in 2014 with the Lions. Later in 2014, an injury of the Cardinals' punter resulted in the team signing Butler to fill in.

Early years

Butler was born in Duluth, Georgia, and is the son of Kevin Butler, a former University of Georgia and NFL placekicker.[1] He attended Peachtree Ridge High School in Suwanee, Georgia, and played high school football for the Peachtree Ridge Lions.[1] As a junior, he averaged 40 yards per punt with a longest kick of 63 yards and 13 punts inside the 20-yard line.[2] Following his senior season in 2006, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution and the Georgia Sports Writers Association named him to their Class 5A all-state first teams.[3] Scout.com rated him as the No. 9 punter recruit in the nation. He also played Peachtree Ridge Lions golf team,[1] while maintaining a 3.9 grade point average.[2]

College career

Butler attended the University of Georgia, where he played for coach Mark Richt's Georgia Bulldogs football team from 2007 to 2011. He led the nation in punting average for the 2009 NCAA Division I FBS football season.[4] He was selected as the first-team All-Southeastern Conference (SEC) punter,[5][6] and a unanimous first-team All-American, and he was the winner of the Ray Guy Award recognizing him as the best college punter in the nation.[7][8]

In 2010, Butler was selected as the second-team All-SEC punter by the coaches.[9] He was a first-team All-American selection by Pro Football Weekly, a second-team choice by the Associated Press and CBS Sports, as well as an honorable mention selection by Sports Illustrated.[10][11][12][13] He was a 2010 first-team Academic All-America selection.[14]

On December 6, 2011, he was honored as a National Football Foundation (NFF) Scholar-Athlete Award recipient.[15] He was also honored on that same day when he earned honorable mention All-SEC recognition by the Associated Press.[16] On December 8, he repeated in 2011 as a first team Academic All-America selection.[17]

Professional career

Pittsburgh Steelers

On April 28, 2012, following the 2012 NFL Draft, Butler was one of 12 undrafted free agent rookies signed by the Pittsburgh Steelers.[18] He beat out the Steelers' incumbent starter Jeremy Kapinos and made the 53-man roster for the 2012 NFL season.[19] During the 2012 season, Butler punted 77 times, and averaged 43.8 yards.[20] For the 2013 NFL season he beat Brian Moorman in preseason to make the 53-man roster,[21] but he was cut to make room for newly acquired Zoltan Mesko before the first week of play.[22]

Chicago Bears

On December 31, 2013, Butler was signed to a future/reserve contract by the Chicago Bears.[23] On May 18, Butler was released.[24]

Detroit Lions

On July 25, 2014, Butler was signed by the Detroit Lions.[25] The Lions released Butler on August 25, 2014.[26]

Arizona Cardinals

Because of an injury to their regular punter, Dave Zastudil, the Cardinals signed Butler on September 8, 2014.[27] Butler made his debut for the Cardinals later that same day in their 2014 season opener against the San Diego Chargers on ESPN's Monday Night Football.[28] He was released on September 16, 2014.[29] He was re-signed by the Cardinals on September 19, 2014 despite the blocked punts that he had for the team that season. Neither was attributed to the punter.[30] On October 6, 2014, he became the starting punter after Dave Zastudil was placed on season-ending injured reserve.[31]

On October 4, 2016, Butler was released by the Cardinals.[32] He was re-signed on November 15, 2016.[33]

Career statistics

Regular season

Season Team Punting[34]
GP Punts Yds Lng Avg Net Avg Blk In 20 TB Ret RetY
2012 Pittsburgh Steelers 16 77 3,374 79 43.8 37.8 1 26 6 30 306
2014 Arizona Cardinals 15 79 3,328 67 42.1 36.8 2 34 5 26 246
2015 Arizona Cardinals 16 60 2,575 58 42.9 35.4 1 22 6 25 295
Total 47 216 9,277 79 42.9 38.2 4 82 17 81 847

Post season

Season Team Punting[35]
GP Punts Yds Lng Avg Net Avg Blk In 20 TB Ret RetY
2015 Arizona Cardinals 2 7 342 55 48.9 43.4 0 3 0 3 38
Total 2 7 342 55 48.9 43.4 0 3 0 3 38

References

  1. 1 2 3 Tucker, Tim (August 15, 2009). "UGA punter Butler could make name for himself". The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Atlanta, Georgia: Cox Media Group. Retrieved September 28, 2014.
  2. 1 2 "Lion Legacy: Drew Butler". prhsfootball.com. Retrieved September 28, 2014.
  3. ↑ "Georgia High School Football Historian's Association 2006 All-State Teams Class AAAAA". Retrieved September 28, 2014.
  4. ↑ "Bowl Subdivision (FBS) National Player Report: Punting". National Collegiate Athletic Association. January 8, 2010. Retrieved January 8, 2010.
  5. ↑ "Seven Bulldogs Named To Coaches? All-SEC Team". GeorgiaDogs.com. CBS Interactive. December 8, 2009. Retrieved December 2, 2011.
  6. ↑ "Seven Georgia Players Earn AP All-SEC Recognition". GeorgiaDogs.com. CBS Interactive. December 7, 2009. Retrieved December 8, 2011.
  7. ↑ "NCAA Football Award Winners" (pdf). National Collegiate Athletic Association. 2011. p. 12. Retrieved October 20, 2014.
  8. ↑ "Georgia's Drew Butler Wins Ray Guy Award As Nation's Top Punter". GeorgiaDogs.com. CBS Interactive. December 11, 2009. Retrieved December 2, 2011.
  9. ↑ "Six Bulldogs Named To All-SEC Coaches Teams". GeorgiaDogs.com. CBS Interactive. December 8, 2010. Retrieved December 2, 2011.
  10. ↑ Miller, Ted (December 21, 2010). "'All-Americans' in terms of NFL potential". ESPN. Retrieved December 21, 2010.
  11. ↑ "AP All-America Team, List". The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. December 14, 2010. Retrieved December 14, 2010.
  12. ↑ "CBSSports.com 2010 College Football All-America Team". CBS Sports. Retrieved December 9, 2010.
  13. ↑ "SI.com's 2010 All-Americas". Sports Illustrated. December 14, 2010. Retrieved December 14, 2010.
  14. ↑ "Alabama quarterback Greg McElroy, Minnesota Duluth running back Isaac Odim lead ESPN Academic All-America Football Teams". College Sports Information Directors of America. November 23, 2010. Retrieved December 9, 2010.
  15. ↑ "Butler Recognized At NFF Banquet". GeorgiaDogs.com. CBS Interactive. December 6, 2011. Retrieved December 8, 2011.
  16. ↑ "Bulldogs Spread Throughout AP All-SEC Teams". GeorgiaDogs.com. CBS Interactive. December 6, 2011. Retrieved December 8, 2011.
  17. ↑ "Stanford quarterback Andrew Luck headlines the 2011 Capital One Academic All-America Division I Football Team". College Sports Information Directors of America. December 8, 2010. Retrieved December 8, 2011.
  18. ↑ "By the Tribune-Review". Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. April 29, 2012. Archived from the original on May 3, 2012. Retrieved October 20, 2014.
  19. ↑ Brigidi, Matt (August 30, 2012). "Steelers Roster: Drew Butler Could Win Spot". sbnation.com. Retrieved September 21, 2014.
  20. ↑ Mayer, Larry (March 24, 2014). "Butler excited to see son with Bears". Chicago Bears. Retrieved March 24, 2014.
  21. ↑ Brown, Scott (August 30, 2014). "Brad Wing hoping to stick with Steelers". ESPN. Retrieved September 21, 2014.
  22. ↑ "Steelers Sign P Zoltan Mesko; Make Roster Moves". Steelers.com. September 2, 2013. Retrieved September 7, 2013.
  23. ↑ "Bears Sign Kevin Butler's Son To Reserve/Future Contract". WBBM-TV. December 31, 2013. Retrieved December 31, 2013.
  24. ↑ Wright, Michael C. (May 18, 2014). "Sources: Butler informed of release". ESPN. Retrieved May 21, 2014.
  25. ↑ "Detroit Lions sign P Drew Butler, release S Gabe Lynn". FOX Sports. Associated Press. July 25, 2014. Retrieved July 28, 2014.
  26. ↑ Twentyman, Tim (August 25, 2014). "Lions continue roster trim". Detroit Lions. Retrieved August 26, 2014.
  27. ↑ Wilkening, Mike (September 8, 2014). "Cardinals sign P Drew Butler". Pro Football Talk. NBC Sports. Retrieved September 9, 2014.
  28. ↑ "San Diego Chargers vs. Arizona Cardinals: Recap". ESPN. Associated Press. September 8, 2014. Retrieved September 9, 2014.
  29. ↑ "Arizona Cardinals sign Victor Butler; release Marcus Benard and Drew Butler". ArizonaSports.com. Bonneville International. September 16, 2014. Retrieved September 18, 2014.
  30. ↑ "Season over for key Cardinals defender Abraham". FOX Sports. September 19, 2014. Retrieved September 21, 2014.
  31. ↑ Gantt, Darin (October 7, 2014). "Cardinals make moves, bring in QB Dennis Dixon". Pro Football Talk. Retrieved October 7, 2014.
  32. ↑ Urban, Darren (October 4, 2016). "Chris Johnson, Tyvon Branch To IR; Butler Cut". AZCardinals.com.
  33. ↑ Urban, Darren (November 15, 2016). "Cardinals Re-Sign Punter Drew Butler". AZCardinals.com.
  34. ↑ "Drew Butler". ESPN. Retrieved September 11, 2016.
  35. ↑ "Drew Butler". ESPN. Retrieved September 11, 2016.
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