1. Drew Butler
Butler always seems to have one foot out the door. He doesn’t blow you away with his stats. In fact his numbers have been a bit underwhelming.
He struggled at the end of the 2014 season and into the playoffs. Some even suggest he was worse than quarterback Ryan Lindley in the 2014 Wild Card game against the Carolina Panthers.
Arians likes Butler though. He punted for an average of 42.9 yards per punt in 2015, slightly up from 2014. He will have competition though in training camp.
2. Garrett Swanson
Enter Garrett Swanson. He is a rookie punter out of Fresno State. He was named Fresno State’s special teams player of the year in 2015. He averaged 42.2 yards per punt.
His college numbers look very much like Butler’s professional numbers. It will be interesting to see if Swanson can push Butler in the preseason at all. A little competition never hurt anyone.
Don’t let Swanson sneak up on you. Remember the Cardinals brought in competition for Jay Feely a couple of years ago and Chandler Catanzaro ended up winning the competition. This competition will play out the entire preseason and likely ends up being one of the last cuts.