Tag: Blake Gillikin

Cardinals player earns player of the week honors

Gillikin had a fantastic game against the Bears and has been fantastic all season. He earns weekly conference honors.

After kicker Chad Ryland earned NFC Special Teams Player of the Month for his play in the month of October, an Arizona Cardinals specialist has received weekly player of the week honors.

The team and league announced Wednesday that punter Blake Gillikin was named the NFC Special Teams Player of the Week for his play in the Cardinals’ 29-9 win over the Chicago Bears in Week 9.

Gillikin punted four times against the Bears, averaging 46.8 yards per punt. Three of the four landed inside the 20-yard line and the fourth returned to the 21.

One was downed at the one-yard line by safety Joey Blount, which set up the Cardinals’ safety in the second half.

He was the only punter in the NFC to average at lead 45 yards per punt and have three inside the 20 in Week 9. Four in the entire league did so.

During the team’s current three-game winning streak, he has averaged 47.7 yards on his 11 punts with nine ending inside the opponents’ 20-yard line. Arizona’s opponents had a combined 38 punt return yards in those three games.

On their 11 possessions following Gillikin punts over the last three games, Arizona opponents have started at their own 1, 1, 5, 10, 11, 12, 13, 16, 19, 21 and 25-yard lines. On 29 total punts this season, Gillikin has 13 punts landed inside the 20-yard line and just one touchback (in Week 6 at Green Bay).

Get more Cardinals and NFL coverage from Cards Wire’s Jess Root and others by listening to the latest on the Rise Up, See Red podcast. Subscribe on Spotify, YouTube or Apple podcasts.

 

4 player connections between Cardinals, Saints in preseason opener

The Cardinals have a pair of former Saints players. The Saints have two former Cardinals.

The Arizona Cardinals and New Orleans Saints kick off their preseason schedules with a matchup against one another on Saturday. They play at State Farm Stadium at 5 p.m. Arizona time (here is how to watch, stream or listen to it).

The two teams have a few familiar faces, as the Cardinals have two players who used to play for the Saints, while New Orleans has a pair of players who used to play for the Cardinals.

Who are those players?

Cardinals P Blake Gillikin

Gillikin signed with the Saints as an undrafted rookie in 2020 and was their punter in 2021-2022.

Cardinals RB Tony Jones

Jones also signed with the Saints out of college as a rookie free agent in 2020. He played parts of four seasons for them, appearing in 18 games (six starts) and rushing for 233 yards and two touchdowns.

Saints DT Kendal Vickers

Vickers spent a few weeks on the Cardinals’ practice squad late last season.

Saints S Tyrann Mathieu

It’s been a long time, but the Cardinals drafted Mathieu in 2013 in the third round. He played five seasons for them and has one Pro Bowl and All-Pro season.

Listen to the latest from Cards Wire’s Jess Root on his podcast, Rise Up, See Red. Subscribe on Spotify, YouTube or Apple podcasts.

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2024 Cardinals roster preview: P Blake Gillikin

We will preview every player on the Cardinals’ roster heading into training camp. This is about punter Blake Gillikin.

The Arizona Cardinals will open training camp July 23 and begin the process of preparing for the regular season, forming the roster and determining starting jobs and roles on the team.

Leading up to the start of camp, we will take a look at every player on the offseason roster, their background, their contract, their play in 2023, questions they face and their roster outlook.

Next up is punter Blake Gillikin.

Background

Gillikin was signed as an undrafted free agent by the Saints in 2020 and kicked for two seasons in New Orleans until he was waived last year in the cutdown to 53 players. He spent his rookie season on injured reserve because of a back injury. The Cardinals signed him on Oct. 3 to replace Nolan Cooney, who was the punter for the first four games of the season. After becoming an unrestricted free agent in March, he was signed to a two-year contract on the first day of the new league year. He also is the holder for Matt Prater on placekicks.

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Complete contract details, salary cap breakdown for P Blake Gillikin

Gillikin signed a two-year, $3.7 million contract to return to the Cardinals.

It has been said there’s very little rest for the weary in the NFL, and that’s especially the case at this time of the year.

The transactions have been in the hundreds around the league in the first week of the 2024 league year and the Arizona Cardinals have been a big part of that.

Eleven players have been re-signed and another eight added that ended the 2023 season on another team. The total includes four players re-signed prior to the official opening of the league year on Wednesday: wide receiver Greg Dortch, defensive end L.J. Collier, linebacker Jesse Luketa and tackle/guard Carter O’Donnell.

Prior to Saturday, we reported on the contract details for 11 players. Cards Wire learned the numbers for another six today, leaving only wide receiver Chris Moore and defensive lineman Khyiris Tonga with unknown figures.

The six are punter Blake Gillikin, long snapper Aaron Brewer, offensive linemen Elijah Wilkinson, Trystan Colon and Keith Ismael and cornerback Bobby Price.

Blake Gillikin contract, salary cap details

Gillikin signed a two-year contract worth $3.7 million that has $1.2 million guaranteed including a $600,000 signing bonus. His base salary for 2024 has $600,000 guaranteed and the 2025 salary is $1.8 million.

Charged against the salary cap is $1.6 million this year and $2.1 million in 2025.

Gillikin was signed by the Cardinals on Oct. 3 to replace Nolan Cooney and made the transition nicely including being the holder on kicks for Matt Prater. He got better as the season progressed and in 13 games averaged 50.6 yards (third in the NFL) with a 43.6-yard net (eighth). He had only two touchbacks to go with 11 inside the 20 and a long of 77.

Listen to the latest from Cards Wire’s Jess Root on his podcast, Rise Up, See Red. Subscribe on Apple podcasts or Spotify.

 

P Blake Gillikin returning to Cardinals on 2-year deal

An in-season signing last year, he set the single-season franchise record with a 50.6 yard punting average.

The Arizona Cardinals are bringing back punter Blake Gillikin. He has agreed to a two-year deal, first reported by the MLFootball account, confirmed by ESPN’s Josh Weinfuss.

Details of the deal are not yet known.

Gillikin was an in-season signing last year. Nolan Cooney won the punting job out of training camp over Matt Haack but was cut after four games. The Cardinals signed Gillikin and he played the remaining 13 games, averaging 50.6 yards per punt with a 42.9-yard net average.

His 50.6 yards per punt set a franchise record.

He had only two touchbacks all season but also only had 11 punts downed inside the 20.

Gillikin is 26 years old.

Listen to the latest from Cards Wire’s Jess Root on his podcast, Rise Up, See Red. Subscribe on Apple podcasts or Spotify.

 

No Saints players led their positions in 2024 Pro Bowl Games fan voting

No current New Orleans Saints players led their positions in fan voting for the 2024 Pro Bowl Games, but two of their former teammates did:

This is tough. No current New Orleans Saints players led their positions in fan voting for the 2024 Pro Bowl Games, but two of their former teammates did while playing for other teams: New York Jets punter Thomas Morstead and Miami Dolphins left tackle Terron Armstead both led the AFC in fan votes at their positions.

Maybe the Saints shouldn’t have let them go. Morstead was teammates with Armstead in Miami last year, but he’s continuing to play at a high level in the years since the Saints cut him to open the door for his successor Blake Gillikin. Gillikin was also released earlier this year in favor of Lou Hedley, who has experienced an up-and-down rookie year in the NFL.

As for Armstead: the Saints’ uncertainty at left tackle speaks for itself, though his situation was more complicated. On top of the serious salary cap implications involved, Armstead’s injury history made it tough to justify re-signing him. Even if they had kept Armstead, they would need an expensive insurance policy. Injuries have limited him to just 9 games this season for the Dolphins.

Fan voting is just one part of the process — coaches and the players themselves will also have ballots, so it’s possible some Saints players end up making the cut. And there’s always the possibility they can get in as alternates should starters opt out or are unavailable while playing in the Super Bowl. The NFL announced positional leaders in fan votes on Wednesday, with the AFC and NFC player rosters scheduled for release at 7 p.m. CT on NFL Network and NFL+.

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Former Saints punter Blake Gillikin signs with the Cardinals

Blake Gillikin signed with the Cardinals, replacing another former Saints punter:

The Arizona Cardinals are swapping one former New Orleans Saints punter for another. Per the latest update to the daily NFL transactions wire, the Cardinals have signed Blake Gillikin — opening a spot on their roster by waiving Nolan Cooney.

Gillikin was released by the Saints after they chose to go with rookie punter Lou Hedley this summer, following a training camp battle. Ironically, Gillikin himself beat Cooney (a former Saints undrafted free agent out of Syracuse) for the job two summers ago.

Good luck to him in the desert. Hedley hasn’t performed as well as the Saints hoped when they went with him at punter, but Gillikin has tried out for a couple of different teams before finding the right opportunity. That this is all happening while Thomas Morstead continues to punt well for the New York Jets adds another layer of frustration for Saints faithful.

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Cardinals make change at punter, release Nolan Cooney

They signed Blake Gillikin, who was the Saints’ punter in 2021-2022, to replace Nolan Cooney following his release.

The Arizona Cardinals are shaking things up on special teams. They have made a change at punter.

The Cardinals announced a few roster moves on Tuesday. Among them. they released punter Nolan Cooney and signed former New Orleans Saint punter Blake Gillikin.

Gillikin signed with the Saints in 2020 as an undrafted rookie out of Penn State and spent his rookie season on injured reserve. He was the Saints’ punter in 2021-2022, playing in all 34 games. Over those two seasons, he averaged 47.0 yards per punt and had a 41.7 net average. He had 61 punts downed inside the 20. His 32 punts downed inside the 20 last year were fourth in the NFL.

He is 25 years old.

Cooney won the punting battle with veteran Matt Haack in training camp.

In four games, he averaged 45.5 yards per punt with a 40.3-yard net average. He had two punts downed inside the 20.

On Sunday, he did have one bad punt that only went 20 yards on Sunday.

We will see how Gillikin does. He will also likely handle holding duties, which could create issues in the kicking game with Matt Prater.

Listen to the latest from Cards Wire’s Jess Root on his podcast, Rise Up, See Red. Subscribe on Apple podcasts or Spotify.

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Recently-released Saints punter Blake Gillikin tries out for Eagles

Recently-released Saints punter Blake Gillikin tried out for the Eagles alongside several other free agents | @DillySanders

Recently-released New Orleans Saints punter Blake Gillikin is in search for his next opportunity, and he didn’t have to wait long — he was invited to try out for the Philadelphia Eagles’ open job. The Saints overhauled their special teams unit this season, moving on from Gillikin and longtime kicker Wil Lutz in favor of undrafted rookies Lou Hedley and Blake Grupe.

Lutz was traded to the Denver Broncos with no worry of finding a new team, but Gillikin is still out on the open market searching for his next chance. He tried out alongside NFL punters Pat O’Donnell and Colby Wadman, per the daily NFL transactions wire.

Gillikin appeared in 34 games for the Saints over two years, averaging 47 yards per punt and landing 38.1% of his tries within the 20-yard line. He’s got the biggest leg and the best accuracy out of the three tryout specialists, but a lack of consistency cost him his job in New Orleans.

O’Donnell spent the first eight years of his career with the Chicago Bears before going turncoat and signing with the Green Bay Packers last season; he’s averaged 45.1 yards per punt while placing 36.4% of them inside the 20.

Wadman hasn’t punted in the NFL since 2019, where he averaged 44.5 yards per punt and put 35.7% of his punts inside the opposing 20. He spent the last two years in the USFL.

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Eagles worked out five players, including 3 punters ahead of the season opener

Philadelphia #Eagles worked out five players including 3 punters ahead of season opener

Philadelphia is looking to fill out the 53-man roster with even more talent and worked out five players on Thursday.

Philadelphia brought back Arryn Siposs on the practice squad, and they’ll likely sign a punter and hold another competition between now and the September, 10 season opener.

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