Arizona Cardinals make change at punter, sign Blake Gillikin, cut Nolan Cooney

The Arizona Cardinals made one big move on Tuesday, as they released punter Nolan Cooney and in turn signed punter Blake Gillikin.

From the team:

The Arizona Cardinals Football Club today announced that the team has signed punter Blake Gillikin and has signed safety Joey Blount (Blunt) to the active roster from the practice squad.

In addition, the team has released punter Nolan Cooney and signed defensive lineman Phil Hoskins to the practice squad. The signings took place today at the Dignity Health Arizona Cardinals Training Center in Tempe, AZ.

Gillikin (6-2, 196) punted in all 34 games with the New Orleans Saints the past two seasons (2021-22) after originally joining the team in 2020 as an undrafted rookie free agent from Penn State. With the Saints, Gillikin had 160 punts for 7,527 yards (47.0-yard avg.) with 61 punts inside the 20-yard line. In 2022, he punted 77 times for a 46.4-yard gross average and set a Saints franchise record with 32 punts inside the 20-yard line. His 32 punts inside the 20-yard line last season ranked fourth in the NFL. The 25-year old Gillikin was released by the Saints following training camp.

Hoskins (6-5, 315) played eight games with Carolina the past two seasons after entering the league with the Panthers as a seventh-round selection (232^nd overall) in the 2021 NFL Draft out of Kentucky. He played in five games last season after appearing in three games as a rookie with Carolina and totaled six tackles and one sack. The 26-year old Hoskins spent the preseason with Kansas City.

Blount will wear jersey #32, Gillikin will wear #12 and Hoskins will wear #79.