TEMPE, Ariz. — Just a day after parting ways with veteran punter Pat O’Donnell, the Arizona Cardinals signed journeyman punter Matt Haack to their active roster on Wednesday, setting him up to be the team’s third punter of 2025.
Haack, 31, was signed as an undrafted free agent by the Miami Dolphins in 2017, where he played four full seasons with them before being released after the 2020 season. Since then, Haack has gone on to play for four teams in as many seasons: Buffalo (2021), Indianapolis (2022), Cleveland (2023), and the New York Giants (2024). Haack has yet to play in the 2025 season, but that will change this Sunday.
“[O’Donnell] did a good job for us,” head coach Jonathan Gannon said. But, sitting down and evaluating where we’re at, we thought this would help the unit.”
Funny enough, this isn’t actually Haack’s first stint with the Cardinals, as the team signed him in May of 2023, but he ended up going a different direction during the season, cutting ties with him after he failed to impress in training camp.
Arizona started the season with Blake Gillikin at punter. However, a back injury forced him to be placed on injured reserve. Pat O’Donnell took over for the past five games but was cut due to poor performance.
In 2024, Haack played in a total of four games and punted 21 times, averaging 47 yards per punt. While it doesn’t seem like much, this is significantly better than O’Donnell, who averaged only 42.2 yards.
Special teams is often overlooked when it comes to the 53-man roster, even though it shouldn’t be, as it is vital in terms of racking up points and setting up good field position. It will definitely be intriguing to see how Haack’s first impression looks on Sunday against the Jacksonville Jaguars, as the Cardinals look to snap their two-game losing streak.