Falcons signed punter Kasey Redfern to the 53-man roster and waived offensive tackle/guard John Wetzel on Saturday.
Redfern was a late-week replacement of Sam Irwin-Hill to the practice squad after the native of Australia encountered Visa problems. Redfern beat out Ian Berryman and Matt Darr in a tryout Friday.
Redfern, 28, played three years at Wofford. He was signed as an undrafted free agent by the Jacksonville Jaguars following the 2014 draft.
In 2017, Redfern was announced as the Detroit Lions’ starting punter before the season, but suffered a season-ending injury in his first career game Sept. 10 against the Arizona Cardinals.
In addition to Jacksonville and Detroit, Redfern has spent time with San Diego, Carolina, Cleveland and Dallas.
He has one NFL punt to his credit, a 50-yard one in 2017. He also will handle the kickoff duties for the Falcons.
Punter/kickoff specialist Matt Wile suffered a right quad injury against the Texans on Sunday.
The Falcons’ top punter and kickoff specialist, Matt Bosher, who re-aggravated a groin injury in practice Oct. 4, went on injured reserve Oct. 5.
Redfern is the fourth punter signed by the Falcons this season and will be the third to play in a game.
Bosher played in the first two games of the season. He was inactive against the Colts in Week 3 with a groin injury, and Wile was on the roster for that game.
Bosher was active for the game against the Titans and punted poorly in that game. He practiced all week, but he suffered an injury after the media portion of the practice Oct. 5.
In his nine seasons with the Falcons, Bosher has punted 489 times for 22,346 yards while averaging a franchise-best 45.8 yards per punt (40.5 net average). He has also kicked off 684 times with 383 touchbacks.
Wile had one punt for 39 yards and had five kickoffs, four for touchbacks against the Colts.
Against the Texans, he averaged 45.8 net yards on five punts, but had two kickoffs go out of bounds.
---
Subscribe to "The Bow Tie Chronicles" podcast with the AJC's D. Orlando Ledbetter on iTunes or on the new AJC sports podcasts page.
About the Author
