TAMPA -- Arizona Cardinals punter Ben Graham had never played football -- not Pop Warner, not high school, not college -- until he got to the NFL. At least, he had never played American football.
Graham had spent his entire life playing Australian rules football when, at the age of 31, he quit the sport to try to become a punter. The New York Jets offered him a spot in training camp, and when he made it past the final cuts and earned a spot on the opening day roster, he was the oldest rookie in NFL history.
Graham is now at the Super Bowl with the Cardinals, and at Media Day today he credited his wife, Katie, for convincing him to leave his big-fish-in-a-small-pond status with the Geelong Cats of Australian football and try to make it in the NFL.
