Cleveland Browns continue roster purge, trade punter Andy Lee
By Thomas Moore
The Cleveland Browns traded punter Andy Lee to the Carolina Panthers on Monday, yet another move to rid the team of a player over the age of 30.
The Cleveland Browns continue to show that if you are over the age of 30 you should not feel safe by trading punter Andy Lee to the Carolina Panthers on Monday.
In exchange for the three-time Pro Bowler, the Browns received a fourth-round selection in the 2018 NFL Draft and punter Kasey Redfern, who has never punted in a regular season NFL game. The Browns also sent a seventh-round selection in the 2017 NFL Draft to the Panthers.
Related: Browns cut linebacker Paul Kruger
Lee earned the wrath of Jackson on Friday night against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers after Lee opted to not try and tackle Adam Humphries on a 73-yard punt return for a touchdown. While that earned Lee a considerable amount of attention, it seems unlikely that the Browns made the decision because of that one play. (At least we hope not.)
There's nobody there!@adamhumphries13 takes the punt back 73 yards TO THE HOUSE! #CLEvsTB https://t.co/eLe5ZyPixY
— NFL (@NFL) August 27, 2016
Lee joined the Browns in the summer of 2015 after spending 11 years with the San Francisco 49ers, where he was the franchise leader in punts (941), punting average (46.2), punts downed inside the 20-yard line (300) and net average (39.5). He and Shane Lechler are the only punters to maintain a 45.0 average with at least 900 career punts.
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He ranks sixth in NFL history with a 46.2 gross punting average. He also ranks ninth all-time with 325 punts inside the 20-yard line. Lee punted 70 times for the Browns, averaging 46.7 yards per kick.
As for Redfern, he was only withe Panthers for a short time, signing with the team on Aug. 16 after being waived by the San Diego Chargers a week earlier.
He was originally signed as an undrafted rookie free agent by the Jacksonville Jaguars in 2014, but was waived in the final roster cutdown after punting 16 times for a 46.4-yard gross average and 40.4-yard net average. Redfern returned to Jacksonville’s training camp in 2015 but was waived again and spent a week on the Chargers practice squad.
In other words, he is no Andy Lee.
Lee becomes the latest player over the age of 30 to be shown the door out of Cleveland, joining Paul Kruger, Randy Starks, Karlos Dansby and Donte Whitner, among others. The Browns currently have just six players on the roster who are 30 or older, and that number may go down between now and Saturday’s final roster cutdown.