Who Should I Start? Mason Crosby or Matt Prater

Tuesday, February 4, 12:39 PM

Long-time NFL kicker Mason Crosby officially announced his retirement from the NFL on Tuesday after a 17-year career. During Crosby's lengthy NFL career (all but one season with the Green Bay Packers), he was a Super Bowl champion, the Packers' all-time leading scorer and finished 11th all time in points in NFL history. The 40-year-old was originally a sixth-round selection by Green Bay in the 2007 NFL draft out of the University of Colorado. Despite his lengthy career, Crosby was never selected to a Pro Bowl or as an All-Pro. He finishes his career with an 81.3 success rate (400-for-492 on field goals) while making 97.2 percent of his 760 career extra-point attempts. Crosby went 44-for-80 on field goals of 50-plus yards in his career. He did not kick at all in 2024 and only played in three games in his final season in 2023 with the New York Giants.

Friday, January 3, 12:10 PM

Arizona Cardinals head coach Jonathan Gannon said that veteran kicker Matt Prater (knee) "will not go" in the Week 18 regular-season finale on Sunday against the division-rival San Francisco 49ers. Prater suffered a meniscus injury in his knee earlier this year and missed the last three months as a result. The 40-year-old kicker only ended up playing in four games in 2024 before injuring his knee in his fourth year with Arizona and 18th year in the NFL. In the four games he was active, Prater made all six of his field-goal attempts (one from 50-plus yards) and was successful on all 10 of his extra-point tries as well. Prater will be a free agent heading into his age-41 season in 2025. Chad Ryland will close out the year this weekend as Arizona's kicker. He's bounced back from a tough rookie season with the Pats to go 26-for-30 on field goals and 21-for-22 on extra points in his 12 games with the Cardinals.