The Falcons will host three punters for a tryout, pending the results of their COVID-19 tests, according to multiple people with knowledge of the situation.
The punters set to work out for the Falcons are Cameron Nizialek, Drew Kaser and Austin Rehko. The primary reason for the tryout is to find an extra specialist who can handle punting and place-kicking duties on an emergency basis for the expanded 16-man practice squad.
Nizialek likely is familiar to local fans, as he spent the 2017 season punting for Georgia in his graduate transfer season. Before attending Georgia, Nizialek spent four seasons at Columbia. With Georgia in 2017, Nizialek ranked fifth in the nation with a net punting average of 42.1 yards per attempt. He hit a 61-yard punt in the Rose Bowl against Oklahoma.
Nizialek then competed in the now-defunct Alliance of American Football with the Atlanta Legends. There, Nizialek was teammates with Falcons place-kicker Younghoe Koo and was his holder on field-goals and extra-point attempts. Nizialek ranked second in the AAF with an average of 47.4 yards per punt. He competed in two exhibition games with the Baltimore Ravens as a punter and kickoff specialist. Nizialek also has field-goal kicking experience from his time at Columbia.
Kaser also was a former teammate and holder of Koo’s, with the two spending time together with the Los Angeles Chargers in 2017. Kaser was with the Chargers for the full 2016 and 2017 seasons but was waived after four games in 2018. He spent time briefly with the Green Bay Packers later that year and was on the Oakland Raiders’ offseason roster until he was waived before the start of the 2019 season. In 36 NFL games, Kaser has averaged 47.4 yards per punt.
Rehko was not drafted out of Idaho in 2017 and has spent time on offseason rosters with the Buffalo Bills (2017) and New York Giants (2018). Like Nizialek, he competed in the AAF in 2019, but with the Salt Lake Stallions. He then spent this past spring with the XFL’s Houston Roughnecks. With the Stallions, Rehko ranked fifth in the league with an average of 45.1 yards per punt. He averaged 41.5 yards per punt with the Roughnecks.
In college at Idaho, Rehko handled both punting and field-goal responsibilities. As a senior, Rehko averaged 41.6 yards per punt with a long of 60. He made 26 of 29 field-goal attempts that same season, with a long of 50.
This offseason, the Falcons elected to let punter Matt Bosher, who was taken in the sixth round of the 2011 draft, leave via free agency after nine seasons with the team. To fill the void, the Falcons drafted Syracuse punter Sterling Hofrichter in the seventh round this year. Hofrichter is expected to open the 2020 season as the Falcons’ starting punter.
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