Mat McBriar (born 8 July 1979) is an Australian former

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

punter in the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the major ...

(NFL) for the

Dallas Cowboys The Dallas Cowboys are a professional American football team based in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. The Cowboys compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East divis ...

Philadelphia Eagles The Philadelphia Eagles are a professional American football team based in Philadelphia. The Eagles compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) NFC East, East division. The t ...

Pittsburgh Steelers The Pittsburgh Steelers are a professional American football team based in Pittsburgh. The Steelers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) North division. Founded in , the Stee ...

and the

San Diego Chargers The San Diego Chargers were a professional American football team that played in San Diego from 1961 until the end of the 2016 season, before relocating to Los Angeles, where the franchise had played its inaugural 1960 season. The team is now ...

. He played college football for the

University of Hawaii A university () is an educational institution, institution of higher education, higher (or Tertiary education, tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several Discipline (academia), academic disciplines. Universities ty ...

Early years

McBriar began as an

Australian rules football Australian football, also called Australian rules football or Aussie rules, or more simply football or footy, is a contact sport played between two teams of 18 players on an oval field, often a modified cricket ground. Points are scored by k ...

player at

Brighton Grammar School , motto_translation = Let us keep pursuing better things , city = Brighton , state = Victoria , zipcode = 3186 , country = Australia , coordinates ...

and

Deakin University Deakin University is a public university in Victoria, Australia. Founded in 1974, the university was named after Alfred Deakin, the second Prime Minister of Australia. Its main campuses are in Melbourne's Burwood suburb, Geelong Waurn Pond ...

(he attended three semesters). At one stage, he entered a junior superkick competition, finishing 3rd overall. He also practiced rowing. Unlike other countrymen such as Darren Bennett who earlier played in the NFL, McBriar was not a standout athlete in Australia. After performing well at an NFL-sponsored kicking competition in

Waverley Park Waverley Park (also and originally called VFL Park) was an Australian rules football stadium in Mulgrave, Victoria, Australia. For most of its history, its purpose was as a neutral venue and used by all Victorian-based Victorian Football Le ...

, Bennett helped him receive a football scholarship with the

. There he recorded the

Warriors A warrior is a person specializing in combat or warfare, especially within the context of a tribal or clan-based warrior culture society that recognizes a separate warrior aristocracies, class, or caste. History Warriors seem to have been ...

' all-time, single-game record with a 53.8 yards/attempt average against Tulane University on 25 December 2002. After 3 years, he had the second-best career punting average for the Warriors with 42.22 yards per punt behind

Jason Elam Jason Elam (born March 8, 1970) is a former American football placekicker. He was drafted by the Denver Broncos in the third round of the 1993 NFL Draft and played 15 seasons with the Broncos and two with the Atlanta Falcons. A three-time Pro Bo ...

. As a junior, he made the second-team All- WAC after averaging 43.4 yards per punt, and earned All- WAC honors as a senior, after registering 48 punts for 2,148 yards (44.8 yards avg), with 12 downed inside the 20-yard line and a long of 73 yards. He finished his college career with 131 punts for 5,531 yards (42.2 avg.) and 32 downed inside the 20-yard line. In January 2003, McBriar was the first-ever Australian player to be selected to play in the

Hula Bowl The Hula Bowl is a post-season college football all-star game held annually, usually in January. From inception through the 2021 playing, it was held in Hawaii; since the 2022 edition, it has been played in Orlando, Florida. The game was first st ...

Maui, as punter for the Kai (North) team.

Professional career

Denver Broncos

On 28 April 2003, he was signed as an

undrafted free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under contract at present but who is ...

by the

Denver Broncos The Denver Broncos are a professional American football franchise based in Denver. The Broncos compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) West division. The team is headquart ...

and had six punts for a 41.5-yard average in the preseason. He was traded to the

Seattle Seahawks The Seattle Seahawks are a professional American football team based in Seattle. The Seahawks compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) NFC West, West, which they rejoined ...

on 22 August, for a conditional draft choice (not exercised).

Seattle Seahawks

2003 File:2003 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The crew of STS-107 perished when the Space Shuttle Columbia Space Shuttle Columbia disaster, disintegrated during reentry into Atmosphere of Earth, Earth's atmosphere; SARS became an 2002– ...

, McBriar averaged 44.8 yards on five punts in his only preseason game with the

. He was waived on 31 August.

Dallas Cowboys

On 26 December

, he was signed by the

to their

practice squad In sports, the practice squad, also called the taxi squad or practice roster, is a group of players signed by a team but not part of their main roster. Frequently used in gridiron football, they serve as extra players during the team's practices, ...

, becoming the second Australian to play for the team, after punter/

kicker Kicker or The Kicker may refer to: Sports * Placekicker, a position in American and Canadian football * ''Kicker'' (sports magazine), in Germany * Kicker, the German colloquial term for an association football player * Kicker, the word used i ...

Colin Ridgway. The next year, he was named the starting punter. In

2006 File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro votes to declare independence from Serbia; The 2006 FIFA ...

, he registered a 75-yard punt which made the record books as the second longest in Cowboys' history. He was named NFC

Special Teams In American football, the specific role that a player takes on the field is referred to as their "position". Under the modern rules of American football, both teams are allowed 11 players on the field at one time and have "unlimited free substitu ...

Player of the Week twice and became just the second Australian player to be selected to the

Pro Bowl The National Football League All-Star Game (1939–1942), Pro Bowl (1951–2022), or Pro Bowl Games (starting in 2023) is an annual event held by the National Football League (NFL) featuring the league's star players. The format has changed thro ...

. His league leading 48.2 yards-per-punt average in the 2006 season broke Sam Baker's team record of 45.4 yards per punt, made him the first player to average over 48 yards per punt since

1963 Events January * January 1 – Bogle–Chandler case: Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation scientist Dr. Gilbert Bogle and Mrs. Margaret Chandler are found dead (presumed poisoned), in bushland near the Lane Cove ...

and tied him for fifth best in

NFL The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the majo ...

history. He was the Cowboys' first

punter since

1971 * The year 1971 had three partial solar eclipses (February 25, July 22 and August 20) and two total lunar eclipses (February 10, and August 6). The world population increased by 2.1% this year, the highest increase in history. Events Jan ...

. On 28 February

2007 File:2007 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Steve Jobs unveils Apple's first iPhone; TAM Airlines Flight 3054 overruns a runway and crashes into a gas station, killing almost 200 people; Former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto ...

, the Cowboys extended McBriar's contract to a 5-year $8.5-million contract, that included a $2.5-million signing bonus. This contract made him the highest-paid punter in the league. That season, he narrowly missed a Pro Bowl selection, after being chosen as an alternate for the NFC team in case of an injury. On 12 October

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

, he sustained a season-ending fracture in his kicking foot, after his first career blocked punt, which was also returned for the game-winning

touchdown A touchdown (abbreviated as TD) is a scoring play in gridiron football. Whether running, passing, returning a kickoff or punt, or recovering a turnover, a team scores a touchdown by advancing the ball into the opponent's end zone. In Ameri ...

on the final play of an overtime loss against the

Arizona Cardinals The Arizona Cardinals are a professional American football team based in the Phoenix metropolitan area. The Cardinals compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) West division, and play th ...

. Before the injury he was averaging 49 yards per punt and had a 38.8 net punting average. In

2009 File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; Protests ...

, he had a team record 38 punts downed inside the red zone, ranking third in the

and sixth all-time in a single season in league history. With the injury of Brad Johnson that same year, he took up holding duties for the Cowboys on

field goal A field goal (FG) is a means of scoring in gridiron football. To score a field goal, the team in possession of the ball must place kick, or drop kick, the ball through the goal, i.e., between the uprights and over the crossbar. The entire ball ...

s and

extra point The conversion, try (American football, also known as a point(s) after touchdown, PAT, or (depending on the number of points) extra point/2-point conversion), or convert (Canadian football) occurs immediately after a touchdown during which the sc ...

attempts. However, after several missed field goals, holding duties were handed over to

Tony Romo Antonio Ramiro Romo (born April 21, 1980) is an American sportscaster and former American football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 14 seasons with the Dallas Cowboys. He played college football at Eastern Illin ...

in the 13th game versus the

. McBriar resumed his role as the team's holder during the 2010 season, in which he also was named to his second

, after leading the NFL in both gross punting average (47.9 yards) and net average (41.7). He also had 22 punts downed inside the red zone, with eight

touchback In American football, a touchback is a ruling which is made and signaled by an official when the ball becomes dead on or behind a team's own goal line (i.e., in their end zone) and the opposing team gave the ball the momentum, or impetus, to tra ...

s. In

2011 File:2011 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: a protester partaking in Occupy Wall Street heralds the beginning of the Occupy movement; protests against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed that October; a young man celebrates ...

, he was bothered during the season by a nerve problem that affected his left foot and was placed on the

injured reserve list The injured reserve list ( IR list) is a designation used in North American professional sports leagues for athletes who suffer injuries and become unable to play. The exact name of the list varies by league; it is known as "injured reserve" in t ...

before the final game. He finished the year with a 43.8 gross average and a 36.1 net average per punt. His contract was not renewed after the season, leaving as the franchise career leader in net average (38.1), gross average (45.3) and punts inside the 20-yard line (175).

Philadelphia Eagles

On 25 July

2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gath ...

, McBriar signed a one-year contract with the

to compete with

Chas Henry Chas Henry (born January 6, 1989) is a former American football punter. Henry played college football for the University of Florida, earned consensus All-American honors, and was recognized as the best college punter as a senior. He was sign ...

for the starting position. He was released on 29 August; however, he was re-signed on 25 September to replace Henry as the team's punter. He was waived on 25 March

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fa ...

, although his 46.5 yards average per punt at the time was the highest in Eagles history.

Pittsburgh Steelers

On 29 October

, he was signed by the

to replace Zoltán Meskó. After playing in 9 games and averaging 41.3 yards per punt, his contract was not renewed after the season.

San Diego Chargers

On 9 December 2014, McBriar signed with the

to replace the injured Mike Scifres, whose season ended after suffering a broken collarbone. His contract was not renewed at the end of the season. On 22 July 2015, McBriar announced his retirement after playing 11 seasons in the

Personal life

A biography of McBriar's story was published in 2014. ''An Aussie Takes A Punt - Mat McBriar's Journey From Australia to the NFL'' was written by F.A. James.

References

External links

Former schoolboy footballer to kick up his heels
{{DEFAULTSORT:McBriar, Mat 1979 births Living people Sportspeople from Melbourne Australian expatriate sportspeople in the United States Australian players of American football American football punters University of Hawaiʻi alumni Hawaii Rainbow Warriors football players Denver Broncos players Seattle Seahawks players Dallas Cowboys players Philadelphia Eagles players Pittsburgh Steelers players San Diego Chargers players National Conference Pro Bowl players People educated at Brighton Grammar School