Who Should I Start? Matt Prater or Tanner Brown

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.

Tuesday, September 17, 2:58 PM

The Los Angeles Rams signed kicker Tanner Browns to the practice squad on Tuesday, according to NFL.com. The 24-year-old went unselected in last year's NFL Draft out of Oklahoma State and has been on and off the L.A. roster since signing with the organization after the draft. Starting kicker Joshua Karty has made all three of his field goal attempts and all three of his extra-point tries to begin the year, so it's unclear whether Brown will be given a chance to earn the starting role. Either way, the Rams offense is likely to struggle with Puka Nacua (knee), Cooper Kupp (foot), and several offensive linemen on the shelf, so he would not be an attractive fantasy kicker option if he plays anytime soon.