The Arizona Cardinals have one, maybe two, spots up for grabs on the special teams unit.
As we have it, kicker Chandler Catanzaro is the only special teamer that knows his future with the team heading into the regular season. There is a vacancy at the long snapper position following Mike Leach’s retirement. A competition could be brewing for the punting position following an off season move.
The Cardinals had stability at the long snapper position since 2009 when they signed Mike Leach. However, Leach retired this off season and that has left the Cardinals looking to find his replacement.
To compete for the vacancy left by Leach, the Cardinals signed undrafted free agents Kameron Canaday out of Portland State and Danny Dillon out of Campbell University. Canaday was named to the FCS Third Team All-America. Dillon was an All Pioner League honorable mention.
While it would seem that either Canaday or Dillon will be the new long snapper for Arizona, it could easily be a Logan Thomas-Phillip Sims situation. If Arians isn’t happy with either snapper’s performance, they won’t hesitate to cut ties both rookies.
Another special teams battle that could possibly heat up is the punting position. Incumbent punter, Drew Butler, signed the extension with the team in February. With the extension, many thought Butler was going to be the Cardinals punter for the foreseeable future.
Last season, Butler increased his yards per punt average from 42.1 yards to 42.9 yards. This averaged ranked 29th in the league out of 39 eligible punters. Luckily the Cardinals boasted the number 1 offense in the league so Butler only punted 60 times last season.
Even with the extension, the Cardinals have brought in competition for Butler. Butler’s competition is Garrett Swanson out of Fresno State. Swanson averaged 42.2 yards per punt with his longest punt being 63 yards (Butler’s longest this past season was 58 yards.)
While I have never been a fan of Butler, it seems that it will be an outside chance for the Swanson to win the job. Nothing is guaranteed with Bruce Arians and the coaching staff, and Swanson could possibly be the one receiving snaps from either Canaday or Dillon.