Matt Prater

Matthew Phillip Prater (born August 10, 1984) is an American football placekicker for

the Arizona Cardinals of the National Football League (NFL).

Prater graduated from Estero High School in 2002.

Prater transferred to Estero High School his sophomore year from Cypress Lake High School.

Prater attended and played college football for UCF from 2002 to 2005.

Prater showed signs of his leg strength with his first kick of his collegiate career, making a 53-yard attempt against Penn State.

Overall, in his first season kicking for the Golden Knights, he finished with 44-of-47 extra points converted and 14-of-21 field goals converted.

Prater showed significant improvement as a sophomore year in 2003, leading the nation in punting and setting school and Mid American Conference (MAC) records with 47.9 yards per punt.

He is known as the perfectionist of the Rugby punt, which is now well known through the NCAA and is used by several teams.

As a kicker, he converted 10-of-13 field goal attempts and was a perfect 4-for-4 on attempts of 40 yards or longer.

Prater had a career day against Virginia Tech on August 31.

He punted six times and had a 55.7-yard average, including punts of 71 and 67 yards.

He also went 4-for-4 on extra points and had three touchbacks on kickoffs.

Overall, he finished the 2003 season with 23-of-24 extra points converted and 10-of-13 field goals converted.

In addition, he had 58 punts for 2,781 net yards for a 47.9 average.

In 2004, Prater continued to provide kicking duties for the Golden Knights.

Aaron Horne took over most of the punting duties.

appeared in nine games before missing the rest of the season with a leg injury.

At one point during the season, he made 11 consecutive field goals – the second-longest streak in school history.

The streak was snapped against Buffalo on October 4.

Overall, he finished the 2004 season with 12-of-14 extra points converted and 9-of-14 field goals converted.

As a senior in 2005, Prater made 17-of-26 field goal attempts on the year, including a season-long 49-yard conversion.

He also went 29-for-32 on point-after attempts.

He punted four times for 160 yards during the season.

In his final collegiate game, Prater set up a textbook onside kick, which allowed UCF to tie the game.

However, in the first overtime, he missed an extra point, which dubbed him as the player that cost UCF the game and gave Nevada a 49–48 victory in the 2005 Hawaii Bowl.

In 46 games spanning four years with UCF, Prater converted 50 of 74 field goal attempts, with a long of 53 yards.

His 50 field goals ties him for the school record, while his 258 points ranks him fourth all-time in school history.

He played college football at UCF, and was originally signed by the Lions as an undrafted free agent in 2006.

He was cut by the Denver Broncos after completing a suspension for violating the NFL's substance abuse policy.

Prater was signed by the Detroit Lions as an undrafted free agent on May 4, 2006.

He made field goals of 22, 44, and 48 yards in a preseason game against the Cleveland Browns, but had little chance of beating out veteran incumbent Jason Hanson and was subsequently released August 27.

He spent the rest of the season as a free agent, but did have workouts with the Green Bay Packers and Minnesota Vikings.

Regarded as one of the best long distance kickers in NFL history, he held the NFL record for longest field goal (64 yards) from 2013 until 2021 and holds the NFL record for most 50+ yard field goals in a career, 80.

With the Lions in the 2016 and 2017 seasons, Prater set the NFL records for consecutive field goal conversions of 50+ yards (14 field goals) and 55+ yards (seven field goals).

Prater attended Estero High School in Estero, Florida.

During his high school football career with the Wildcats, he converted 56 of 58 extra point attempts and 14 field goals, including one of 49 yards.

Prater converted 84% of his kickoffs in the end zone for touchbacks.

He was named second-team All-State, first-team all-conference and All-Southwest Florida.

He was also selected to the second-team "Dream Team."