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The Arizona Cardinals made their first move of the offseason that didn't involve a future contract. They have locked up punter Dave Zastudil for two more seasons, as they announced Tuesday that the team and the player had agreed to terms.
Zastudil (6-3, 220) just finished his 12th NFL season and third with the Cardinals after originally joining the team in 2011. He is coming off of the best two seasons of his career, including in 2013 when he averaged 45.7 yards per kick on 78 punts (3,566 yards) with a 40.1-yard net average and tied for the league lead with 35 punts inside the 20-yard line (Dustin Colquitt). He set career highs in 2012 with an NFL record 46 punts inside the 20-yard line along with a 46.5-yard average on 112 punts with a 41.4-yard net average.
His 45.8-yard average as a member of the Cardinals (277 punts for 12,704 yards) is the highest career average in franchise history. He also has 105 punts inside the 20-yard in the past three seasons and is one of four players in franchise history with at least 100 punts inside the 20 in their career.
After originally entering the league with Baltimore as a fourth round pick (112th overall) in the 2002 NFL Draft out of Ohio, Zastudil spent his first four years with the Ravens before signing with the Browns as a free agent in 2006. He played with the Browns for five seasons before signing with the Cardinals. For his career, Zastudil has played in 160 games and punted 858 times for 37,529 yards (43.7 yard avg.) with 284 punts landing inside the opponent's 20-yard line.
Zastudil made $1.475 million in 2013. We will see if that number goes up.
Do you remember when Ken Whisenhunt brought him in compete with Ben Graham and fans thought it was crazy? That turned out to be a pretty good decision.
What do you think of the move to bring him back?
