Billy Cundiff

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Billy Cundiff
Date of birth	March 18, 1980 (age 27)
Place of birth	Valley Center, California, USA
Position(s)	Placekicker
College	Drake
Statistics	CBS.com DatabaseFootball
Team(s)
2002-2005 2006	Dallas Cowboys New Orleans Saints

Billy Cundiff (born March 30, 1980 in Valley Center, California) is a National Football League placekicker currently playing for the New Orleans Saints as a kickoff specialist. Cundiff previously played four seasons with the Dallas Cowboys. He holds the record (with three others) for most field goals converted in a game with seven against the New York Giants on Monday Night Football on September 15, 2003.

He attended high school in Harlan, Iowa where he was a two time All-Iowa and helped lead his team to the Iowa state championship in 1998. Cundiff played college football at Drake University where he broke five Pioneer League records including most points and most career field goals. ^[1] Cundiff was brought to the 2002 training camp as a free agent, and won out over incumbent Tim Seder as the team's kicker.

In 2005, which would have been his fourth season with the team, he was released (via injury waiver) during training camp following a quadriceps injury, and briefly replaced by kickoff specialist Jose Cortez, who had not been expected to make the team. Cundiff was later re-signed on November 19, 2005 (directly following the mandatory period after an injury waiver) having recovered from his training camp injury. He replaced kicker Shaun Suisham, in the hope of providing greater consistency to the Cowboys' special teams. In his first game back with the Cowboys, Cundiff made a 56-yard field goal at the end of the first half to set a Cowboys record for longest field goal in team history. Cundiff played six games that season before being released by the Cowboys, on December 26, 2005 after missing two field goals in a critical game against the Carolina Panthers. The Cowboys resigned Suisham to replace him for the season finale. ^[2]

On February 15, 2006, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers signed Cundiff to a contract but released him after kicker Matt Bryant re-signed. ^[3] Cundiff signed with the Green Bay Packers in March 28, 2006 and was expected to compete with Dave Rayner for the starting kicking position before being cut by Green Bay on August 17, 2006.^[4]

On November 22, 2006, the Saints signed Cundiff as a kickoff specialist, easing the workload of John Carney, who continues to handle field goals and extra points for the Saints.