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Monday Night Football: Arizona Cardinals sign punter, test out Ellington and try out a running back

Nuts and bolts a few hours before kickoff.

Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sport

The Arizona Cardinals are on Monday Night Football tonight and they were making moves today. They announced the signing of punter Drew Butler, who will apparently be the replacement for Dave Zastudil, who was a late injury report addition on Saturday with a groin issue.

Butler (6-1, 217) punted in all 16 games with the Pittsburgh Steelers as a rookie in 2012 and had 77 punts for 3,374 yards (43.8 yard avg.) with 26 punts inside the 20-yard line. He spent this preseason with the Detroit Lions after signing with the team on July 25, but was released on August 25.

A native of Duluth, GA, Butler played collegiately at Georgia and was signed by the Steelers as an undrafted rookie free agent in 2012. He was out of the NFL in 2013 after being released by the Steelers at the end of the preseason last year. He is the son of former Cardinals (1996-97) and Chicago Bears kicker Kevin Butler (1985-95).

Based on pregame workouts, it looks like Zasty will be a no-go. Butler was on the field practicing as holder for kicks. Zastudil usually is the holder.

Running back Andre Ellington, whose game status is unknown, went through a pregame workout with running backs coach Stump Mitchell and athletic trainer Tom Reed. The team wanted to see if his foot is okay to go.

Safety Tyrann Mathieu also was on the field doing work with Buddy Morris, the team's strength and conditioning  coach. He is also considered a game time decision.

With the possibility of Ellington being out for a few weeks, which was what the original reports said at the end of last week, ESPN's Field Yates reported the Cardinals tried out running back Chris Rainey.

Rainey played for the Steelers in 2012 and for the Colts briefly in 2013.