Veteran kicker Matt Prater may be back in the Cardinals’ lineup before the year is out.
Prater has been on injured reserve since early October and had surgery to repair a torn meniscus in his knee. Prater will have a three-week window to practice with the team before he’d need to be activated and he can return to the 53-man roster at any point in that window.
Chad Ryland has handled the kicking duties in Arizona since Prater’s injury. Ryland struggled as a rookie with the Patriots in 2023, but he’s 22-of-26 on field goals in 10 games for the Cards and he has hit three-game winning field goals in the final moments of games this season.
That should make him a popular player on the open market if the Cardinals decide to let him go and bring Prater back, but it remains to be seen how Arizona will play things over the next few weeks.
