Neil Rackers

Neil Rackers

Rackers at Redskins training camp in 2012.
No. 5, 1, 4
Position:	Placekicker
Personal information
Date of birth:	August 16, 1976
Place of birth:	St. Louis, Missouri
Height:	6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)
Weight:	207 lb (94 kg)
Career information
College:	Illinois
NFL Draft:	2000 / Round: 6 / Pick: 169
Career history
Cincinnati Bengals (2000–2002) Arizona Cardinals (2003–2009) Houston Texans (2010–2011) Washington Redskins (2012)*
* Offseason and/or practice squad member only
Career highlights and awards
Most field goals of 55 yards or more in one quarter (2) Most field goals of 50 yards or more in one game (3) 2× Leader in field goal attempts in the NFL (2005, 2006) Pro Bowl (2005) First-team All-Pro (2005) PFW Golden Toe Award (2005)
Career NFL statistics
Field goals: 264 Field goal attempts: 330 Field goal %: 80.0 Long field goal: 57[1] Player stats at NFL.com

Neil William "Rickety" Rackers^[2] (born August 16, 1976) is a former American football player who was a placekicker in the National Football League (NFL) for twelve seasons. He played college football for the University of Illinois. Rackers was drafted by the Cincinnati Bengals in the sixth round of the 2000 NFL Draft, and also played for the NFL's Arizona Cardinals, Houston Texans, and Washington Redskins.

Early years

Rackers attended Aquinas-Mercy High School in St. Louis, Missouri and was a student and a letterman in football, soccer, and baseball. In football, he was a two-year letterman and an All-Conference selection. In soccer, he led his team to consecutive State Titles and was an All-State selection. In baseball, he was an All-Conference selection.

Professional career

Cincinnati Bengals

Rackers was drafted in the sixth round of the 2000 NFL Draft by the Cincinnati Bengals. He played three seasons for the team, making 44 out of 67 field goals.

Arizona Cardinals

Rackers reached and or surpassed 20 touchbacks in a season twice in his career, and once had a streak of 31 consecutive field goals made before missing a 43-yarder in 2005 against the Jacksonville Jaguars. On New Year's Day, 2006, Rackers kicked his 40th field goal of the season, an NFL record. He was rewarded with a spot in that year's Pro Bowl. He is also one the few players to attempt a fair catch kick. Rackers was likely the most well known kicker in Cardinals history, so much so that fans informally refer to University of Phoenix Stadium as "The House that Rackers Built." ^[3]

Rackers in a 2010 preseason game against the Dallas Cowboys.

Houston Texans

Rackers was signed by the Houston Texans on April 5, 2010, and replaced Kris Brown later for the 2010 season, and made his first two field goals as a Texan on September 12.

Washington Redskins

Rackers signed a one-year contract with the Washington Redskins on April 24, 2012 and competed with Graham Gano for a spot on the team.^[4] On August 27, the Redskins released Rackers.^[5]

Retirement

Billy Cundiff's charity confirmed that Rackers retired and would join his cause to cure ovarian cancer.^[6]

Career regular season statistics

Career high/best bolded

Regular season statistics
Season	Team (record)	G	FGM	FGA	%	<20	20-29	30-39	40-49	50+	LNG	BLK	XPM	XPA	%	PTS
2000	Cincinnati Bengals (4–12)	16	12	21	57.1	0–0	5–5	5–9	2–7	0–0	45	2	21	21	100.0	57
2001	Cincinnati Bengals (6–10)	16	17	28	60.7	0–0	4–6	8–11	4–9	1–2	52	0	23	24	95.8	74
2002	Cincinnati Bengals (2–14)	16	15	18	83.3	2–2	5–5	3–3	3–5	2–3	54	1	30	32	93.8	75
2003	Arizona Cardinals (4–12)	7	9	12	75.0	0–0	5–5	1–4	3–3	0–0	49	0	8	8	100.0	35
2004	Arizona Cardinals (6–10)	16	22	29	75.9	0–0	6–6	5–7	6–7	5–9	55	0	28	28	100.0	94
2005	Arizona Cardinals (5–11)	15	40	42	95.2	0–0	11–11	10–10	13–14	6–7	54	0	20	20	100.0	140
2006	Arizona Cardinals (5–11)	16	28	37	75.7	0–0	11–11	9–9	7–10	1–7	50	0	32	32	100.0	116
2007	Arizona Cardinals (8–8)	16	21	30	70.0	2–2	5–5	6–8	5–6	3–9	52	2	47	48	97.9	110
2008	Arizona Cardinals (9–7)	16	25	28	89.3	0–0	9–9	9–11	6–6	1–2	54	1	44	44	100.0	119
2009	Arizona Cardinals (10–6)	14	16	17	94.1	0–0	4–4	6–6	6–7	0–0	48	1	37	38	97.4	85
2010	Houston Texans (6–10)	16	27	30	90.0	0–0	8–8	11–11	5–7	3–4	57	0	43	43	100.0	124
2011	Houston Texans (10–6)	16	32	38	84.2	0–0	14–14	10–11	4–8	4–5	54	1	39	40	97.5	135
Career (12 seasons)		180	264	330	80.0	4–4	87–89	83–100	64–89	26–48	57	8	372	378	98.4	1164

Life away from football

Rackers currently is the special teams/linebackers coach at John Burroughs School in the St. Louis, Missouri area.^[7] He also owns Kick it Promos and is a radio announcer on 101 ESPN in St. Louis.

References

1. "Houston Texans at Denver Broncos - December 26, 2010". Pro-Football-Reference.com. 2010-12-26. Retrieved 2011-11-13.
2. "Rackers on Pro-Football-Reference". rbref.com. Retrieved 2007-12-23.
3. Pecker, Flappy (March 19, 2014). "Neil Rackers Names U Phoenix Stadium". New York Times. Retrieved 2014-04-18.
4. Maske, Mark (April 24, 2012). "Kicker Neil Rackers says he's signed with the Redskins". WashingtonPost.com. Retrieved 2012-04-29.
5. Jones, Mike (August 27, 2012). "Redskins release Neil Rackers". WashingtonPost.com. Retrieved 2012-08-27.
6. http://www.beyondovariancancer.com/2013/07/neil-rackers-joins-kicking-for-the-dream.html
7. http://jburroughs.org/athletics/fall-sports/boys-football

External links

• Neil Rackers on ESPN.com
• Current Stats