In honor of Ben Graham's 5 punts inside the Titans 20 yard line on Sunday, he is up next for Cardinals Pro Bowl consideration. After the Cardinals shuffled through a several punters last year (and year before!) they settled on the former New York Jets Ben Graham. He immediately provided better punting, something the Cardinals needed down the stretch of the season and in the playoffs. This season he's had a full year under his belt and has had career bests in punts inside the opponents 20 and net average after 11 games. In 2006 Graham had 26 punts downed inside the opponents 20 yard line, while this year he has 30. In 2005 he recorded a 37.9 net average but he's already punting for a 41.1 average going into the Vikings game.
Let's see how he stacks up to the NFC competition.
| Punters | Team | Punts | Net Yards | Net Avg | In 20 |
| Andy Lee | SF | 66 | 2,747 | 41.6 | 20 |
| Ben Graham | ARI | 62 | 2,546 | 41.1 | 30 |
| Donnie Jones | STL | 56 | 2,289 | 40.9 | 18 |
| Mat McBriar | DAL | 53 | 2,147 | 40.5 | 29 |
A mere 0.5 yards is what separates San Francisco's Andy Lee's net average from Graham's. Graham, however, has ten more punts downed inside the 20 while attempting four less punts then Lee. Donnie Jones has a slim chance considering he's on the 1-10 Rams and bad teams rarely send many players to the Pro Bowl (Steven Jackson goes before Jones!). The biggest competition on the list is Mat McBriar from the Dallas Cowboys as he already has made the Pro Bowl with Dallas; he is having another solid year after coming off of foot surgery. Graham has slowly been improving over the coarse of the season. Some consider that Graham doesn't have a chance to make the Pro Bowl in Miami but it's likely he will if he can keep up this same pace and the Cardinals defense can utilize the field position he creates (with ample help from LaRod Stephens-Howling et. al.). Do you think Ben Graham can be the first Cardinal punter in the Pro Bowl since Scott Player in 2000?