National Football League

K Feely agrees to 2-year deal with Cardinals

Published Apr. 3, 2010 2:41 a.m. ET

foxsports

The Arizona Cardinals have agreed to a two-year deal with free agent kicker Jay Feely, bringing an end to Neil Rackers' seven seasons with the team.

Feely connected on 30 of 36 field goal attempts last season for the New York Jets. He has connected on 231 of 283 field goal attempts since entering the league in 2001.

The nine-year NFL veteran spent the last two seasons with the Jets. He also has played for the Atlanta Falcons, New York Giants and Miami Dolphins.

Rackers became a free agent after last season, and the Cardinals had said they wanted to re-sign him. But as time wore on, the decision was made to turn to Feely instead.

``Not knowing where things were going with Neil, we had to look at all the available options,'' Arizona coach Ken Whisenhunt said. ``When we looked at Jay he graded out very high but what was particularly impressive was how well he kicked in some brutal conditions. To kick in that stadium and in that conference and to put up the kind of numbers he did is certainly impressive,''

Rackers made 16 of 17 field goals last season. In his seven seasons with Arizona, he made 165 of 195 field goals and ranks second in franchise history, to kicker Jim Bakken, with 699 points. Rackers' best season was 2005, when he made an NFL-record 40 field goals in 42 attempts.

``It's tough,'' Whisenhunt said. ``I was just thinking about it and my first win as Cardinals head coach was against Seattle on a game-winning field goal by Neil. We're all very grateful to Neil for what he's contributed to our team. He's not only been a very productive kicker but also tremendous in the community and he'll be missed. Unfortunately we couldn't work anything out for him and the most important thing for us was to make sure we were covered at that position with a quality and proven kicker.''