Arizona Cardinals sign punter Andy Lee to contract extension

The Arizona Cardinals continue to put an emphasis on special teams and improving that unit.

Last offseason they signed punter Andy Lee once he was released by the Carolina Panthers. It was a match made in heaven, as Lee was extremely effective for the Arizona Cardinals.

The Cardinals rewarded that with a two-year contract extension, from the team:

Lee (6-1, 185) is a three-time Pro Bowl selection (2007, ’09, ’11) and three-time first-team All-Pro (2007, ’11-12) who has played 14 years in the NFL with San Francisco (2004-14), Cleveland (2015), Carolina (2016) and Arizona (2017). He joined the Cardinals last season and established a single-season franchise record with a 47.3-yard punting average and in Week 11 at Houston matched a franchise single-game record with six punts inside the 20-yard line. Lee appeared in all 16 games last season, punting 88 times for 4,159 yards and ranked seventh in the NFL with his 47.3-yard average.

The 35-year old Lee has appeared in 217 career games with 1,135 punts for 52,666 yards (46.4 yard avg.) and has a 39.6 yard net average and 372 punts landed inside the 20-yard line. He entered the NFL with San Francisco in 2004 as a sixth-round selection (188^thoverall) in the NFL Draft out of Pittsburgh. Lee has finished in the top 10 in the NFL in gross average in 11 of his 14 career seasons and is tied for seventh in NFL history in gross punting average (46.4 yards), 15^th in net punting average (39.6 yards) and eighth for punts inside the 20 (372).

That means the Cardinals were not impressed with their undrafted free agent class of punters and want to make sure Lee is under contract moving forward. It also means that the Cardinals now have their punter and long snapper through the 2020 season.