Looks like the Miami Dolphins will have a new punter for the first time since 2017
The Miami Dolphins are evidently moving on from Matt Haack.
Haack, the team’s punter since 2017, will be a free agent on Wednesday, and the Dolphins might have already found his replacement.
NFL Network first reported that Miami is signing ex-Panthers punter Michael Palardy to a one-year contract. Palardy missed the entire 2020 season after tearing his ACL in a non-football activity.
But Palardy appears to be healthy and, until this week, in search of a job.
Palardy, a Margate native who played at St. Thomas Aquinas before attending the University of Tennessee, has averaged 45.3 yards per punt in his career, spent mostly with Carolina.
Haack, meanwhile, seemed destined for a new home after ranking 24th in gross (44.7 yards per attempt) and 20th in net (39.8) punting in his contract year. Haack did finish sixth in the NFL with 26 punts inside the 20.
But his most enduring moment as a Dolphin will probably be a play he made with his hands, not his feet. Against the Eagles on Dec. 1, 2019, Haack executed a perfect fake field goal and threw a touchdown pass to kicker Jason Sanders.
That sleight of hand went viral and ultimately was named the NFL Play of the Year.
“It means a lot,” Haack told the team’s website, upon learning of the award last year. “It’s not every day a punter and a kicker get to be a part of something like that. It’s just special for the organization, for us and for the team and for all the fans, really, to have that memory.”
While Haack is seemingly gone from the organization, his battery-mate will be here for the foreseeable future. Sanders signed a five-year, $22 million contract extension last month.
This story was originally published March 12, 2021 at 7:03 AM.
