5 Arizona Cardinals playing for their jobs in the final four games of 2023
By Sion Fawkes
3 - Blake Gillikin, P
Blake Gillikin is one of two players on this list who weren’t initially with the Arizona Cardinals when the 2023 season started, and the 25-year-old was a cast-off, or something you could draw up as a stopgap. However, Gillikin has looked decent since he came to the desert, averaging 50.1 yards per punt, which ranks fifth in the NFL, and he has just one touchback.
While he could do better with pinning opponents deep inside their own 20 and in the net yards per punt categories, Gillikin has proven to at least warrant serious consideration to return in 2024. If he does, the third-year punter should get another season or two to show he can be a long-term solution at the position, alleviating yet another hole on this younger roster.
Gillikin has already shown he’s an upgrade from Nolan Cooney, who held the job for the first four games of the season. Moving forward, Gillikin just needs to keep doing what he’s been doing, and improve in the aforementioned areas.