Who Should I Start? Matt Prater or Elliott Fry

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.

Wednesday, August 23, 11:19 AM

The Denver Broncos waived kicker Elliot Fry (undisclosed) off Injured Reserve on Tuesday after reaching an injury settlement. It means Fry will now be able to sign with another team for the 2023 season. Brett Maher is still the leading candidate to be Denver's opening-day kicker in Week 1 against the division-rival Las Vegas Raiders. It's unclear exactly what the 28-year-old Fry is dealing with, and it remains to be seen if another team will give him a chance to compete for a kicking job this summer. He didn't kick at all in the NFL last year and spent the 2021 season with the Cincinnati Bengals and Kansas City Chiefs, going 4-for-5 on field-goal attempts in just two games.