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Wane.com FORT WAYNE, Ind. - Wayne (Ind.) High School graduate and 11-year NFL veteran Jason Baker is back home this weekend for his annual football camp. It's a nice distraction for a few days as the punter awaits to hear word from an NFL franchise seeking his services for the upcoming season. After a seven-year run with the Carolina Panthers, Baker was released following the conclusion of last season. He says that he has been in serious talks with two teams and would love to land with either - but at this time was not willing to tip his hand…
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In 1972, Chester Marcol remedied a problem that had nagged the Green Bay Packers since Don Chandler’s retirement following the 1967 season. Marcol became the Packers leading scorer from 1972-74, 1976-77 and in ‘79. He led the league in scoring his rookie season and again in 1974. The 6’0”, 190-pound Marcol was the Packers’ first soccer-style kicker. He scored 521 points during his Packers career, including 120 field goals and 155 extra points from 1972-80. In the opening game of the 1980 season, he ran for his only touchdown on a blocked field goal to beat the Bears in overtime 12-6.
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By Weston Hodkiewicz / Green Bay Post Gazette Where others see a streak, Mason Crosby sees another mountain to conquer. In the wake of signing a five-year contract with the Green Bay Packers last July, Crosby paid his team back last season when he set a new franchise record with 23 consecutive regular-season makes (dating back to 2010). Along with making a career-high 85.7 percent of his regular-season field goals, it added up to the most decorated season of Crosby’s five-year career. In the process, Crosby tied his franchise record with a 56-yard field goal against Atlanta in Week 5…
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Cindy Borlen / The Washington Post Not that former punters get to have a vote on the matter of whether Mark Sanchez or Tim Tebow is better suited to be the New York Jets' starting quarterback, but Steve Weatherford added his two cents to the debate anyway. Weatherford, who jumped from the Jets to the Giants in time to get a Super Bowl ring, said in an NFL.com podcast that Sanchez hasn’t matured. “I like Mark — I think he's a very talented quarterback — but from my standpoint, I haven't seen a lot of maturation. When you're a quarterback…
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The Pittsburgh Steelers tried out former Baltimore Ravens and New England Patriots long snapper Matt Katula, according to a league source. Katula, 29, played in five games last season for the Minnesota Vikings, filling in when Cullen Loeffler broke a bone in his lower back. A former Wisconsin player, Katula played with the Ravens from 2005 to 2009 and played eight games two years ago for the Patriots. For his career, the 6-foot-6, 265-pounder has played in 93 games.
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The Arizona Cardinals signed four players, including kicker/punter Ricky Schmitt, who has Prokicker.com connections. Schmitt, who is 6-2 and 217 pounds, has only attempted a few kicks in the league with the 49ers. He's spent much of his time in the league on practice squads on Pittsburgh and Oakland.
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The Boston Globe It crossed Taylor Allen's mind that he was going down the same road his father had many years ago. Dan Allen played linebacker at tiny Hanover College in Indiana. He was not drafted, but he did earn an invitation to the rookie camp of the Atlanta Falcons. He didn't make the team, but it was an experience he never forgot. Taylor Allen has finished his gridiron career at Endicott College, a Division 3 program in Beverly that is barely a decade old. But if you can play, the NFL will find you, even if you live in…
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St. Louis Post Dispatch Rams special teams coordinator John Fassel piled up some frequent-flyer miles this spring in search of a punter. The team's interest level in re-signing veteran Donnie Jones ranged somewhere between little and none. (Jones eventually signed with the Houston Texans as a free agent.) So with the punting job wide open, Fassel worked out no fewer than eight college punters, some on more than one occasion. As the draft wore down and it was time to start working the phones for rookie free agents, the Rams pretty much had an open field. California's Bryan Anger, the…
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By Joesph Person / Charlotte Observer It was cloudy with a threat of rain Sunday morning for the start of rookie practice – a perfect day compared to the first time Brad Nortman punted for the Panthers. Nortman used the word “turbulent” several times in referring to his April workout with Panthers special teams coordinator Brian Murphy on a windy, 30-degree day in Nortman’s hometown of Brookfield, Wis. “The workout was in conditions equivalent to the Wizard of Oz. The wind was about 90 miles an hour,” Murphy said Sunday. “I knew one thing – that he could stand with…
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Kerry Eggers / The Portland Tribune ROSEBURG — Few people have more reasons to be thankful than Josh Bidwell. Financially secure after a dozen seasons as an NFL punter. Happily married with three young children. Deep in faith as a Christian. And, at 36, healthy and a dozen years removed from a debilitating bout with cancer. It’s essential to Bidwell’s spirit, then, that he give back after having gotten so much. The most public example was Bidwell’s seventh annual Celebrity Golf Classic Friday at Roseburg Country Club. Together with a Thursday night dinner and auction, Bidwell, a graduate of Douglas…
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