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
Career highlights and awards
Career NFL statistics as of 2015
Punts: 216
Average punt: 42.9
Punt yards: 9,277
Longest punt: 79
Inside 20: 82
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.

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]

References

  1. 1 2 3 Tucker, Tim (2009-08-15). "UGA punter Butler could make name for himself". The Atlanta Journal-Constitution (Atlanta, Georgia: Cox Media Group). Retrieved 2014-09-28.
  2. 1 2 "Lion Legacy: Drew Butler". prhsfootball.com. Retrieved 2014-09-28.
  3. ↑ "Georgia High School Football Historian's Association 2006 All-State Teams Class AAAAA". Retrieved 2014-09-28.
  4. ↑ "Bowl Subdivision (FBS) National Player Report: Punting". National Collegiate Athletic Association. 2010-01-08. Retrieved 2010-01-08.
  5. ↑ "Seven Bulldogs Named To Coaches? All-SEC Team". GeorgiaDogs.com. CBS Interactive. 2009-12-08. Retrieved 2011-12-02.
  6. ↑ "Seven Georgia Players Earn AP All-SEC Recognition". GeorgiaDogs.com. CBS Interactive. 2009-12-07. Retrieved 2011-12-08.
  7. ↑ "NCAA Football Award Winners" (pdf). National Collegiate Athletic Association. 2011. p. 12. Retrieved 2014-10-20.
  8. ↑ "Georgia's Drew Butler Wins Ray Guy Award As Nation's Top Punter". GeorgiaDogs.com. CBS Interactive. 2009-12-11. Retrieved 2011-12-02.
  9. ↑ "Six Bulldogs Named To All-SEC Coaches Teams". GeorgiaDogs.com. CBS Interactive. 2010-12-08. Retrieved 2011-12-02.
  10. ↑ Miller, Ted (2010-12-21). "'All-Americans' in terms of NFL potential". ESPN. Retrieved 2010-12-21.
  11. ↑ "AP All-America Team, List". The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. 2010-12-14. Retrieved 2010-12-14.
  12. ↑ "CBSSports.com 2010 College Football All-America Team". CBS Sports. Retrieved 2010-12-09.
  13. ↑ "SI.com's 2010 All-Americas". Sports Illustrated. 2010-12-14. Retrieved 2010-12-14.
  14. ↑ "Alabama quarterback Greg McElroy, Minnesota Duluth running back Isaac Odim lead ESPN Academic All-America Football Teams". College Sports Information Directors of America. 2010-11-23. Retrieved 2010-12-09.
  15. ↑ "Butler Recognized At NFF Banquet". GeorgiaDogs.com. CBS Interactive. 2011-12-06. Retrieved 2011-12-08.
  16. ↑ "Bulldogs Spread Throughout AP All-SEC Teams". GeorgiaDogs.com. CBS Interactive. 2011-12-06. Retrieved 2011-12-08.
  17. ↑ "Stanford quarterback Andrew Luck headlines the 2011 Capital One Academic All-America Division I Football Team". College Sports Information Directors of America. 2010-12-08. Retrieved 2011-12-08.
  18. ↑ "By the Tribune-Review". Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. 2012-04-29. Archived from the original on 2012-05-03. Retrieved 2014-10-20.
  19. ↑ Brigidi, Matt (2012-08-30). "Steelers Roster: Drew Butler Could Win Spot". sbnation.com. Retrieved 2014-09-21.
  20. ↑ Mayer, Larry (2014-03-24). "Butler excited to see son with Bears". Chicago Bears. Retrieved 2014-03-24.
  21. ↑ Brown, Scott (2014-08-30). "Brad Wing hoping to stick with Steelers". ESPN. Retrieved 2014-09-21.
  22. ↑ "Steelers Sign P Zoltan Mesko; Make Roster Moves". Steelers.com. 2013-09-02. Retrieved 2013-09-07.
  23. ↑ "Bears Sign Kevin Butler’s Son To Reserve/Future Contract". WBBM-TV. 2013-12-31. Retrieved 2013-12-31.
  24. ↑ Wright, Michael C. (2014-05-18). "Sources: Butler informed of release". ESPN. Retrieved 2014-05-21.
  25. ↑ "Detroit Lions sign P Drew Butler, release S Gabe Lynn". FOX Sports. Associated Press. 2014-07-25. Retrieved 2014-07-28.
  26. ↑ Twentyman, Tim (2014-08-25). "Lions continue roster trim". Detroit Lions. Retrieved 2014-08-26.
  27. ↑ Wilkening, Mike (2014-09-08). "Cardinals sign P Drew Butler". Pro Football Talk (NBC Sports). Retrieved 2014-09-09.
  28. ↑ "San Diego Chargers vs. Arizona Cardinals: Recap". ESPN. Associated Press. 2014-09-08. Retrieved 2014-09-09.
  29. ↑ "Arizona Cardinals sign Victor Butler; release Marcus Benard and Drew Butler". ArizonaSports.com. Bonneville International. 2014-09-16. Retrieved 2014-09-18.
  30. ↑ "Season over for key Cardinals defender Abraham". FOX Sports. 2014-09-19. Retrieved 2014-09-21.
  31. ↑ Gantt, Darin (2014-10-07). "Cardinals make moves, bring in QB Dennis Dixon". Pro Football Talk. Retrieved 2014-10-07.

External links

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