Browns history: Kicking in Cleveland, college at Drake and more as we catch up with K Billy Cundiff

25 questions with a former Cleveland specialist

Want to know something strange? Every NFL kicker, holder and long snapper wants to be involved in the last play of every game and the opportunity to kick the game-winning field goal.

RELATED: 2014 – LIFE AS AN NFL KICKER

Why is this odd? If they make the kick, then it is fun and games, rainbows and unicorns for all. However, if the kick fails, it is not only a loss in the record column, but it could mean the jobs of these three men. The next day. Gone. Released.

Yet, every specialist wants this scenario. They live for it.

The holder is usually the punter. Along with the long snapper, a missed field goal may not get these two fired unless it was their error that caused the flub. And even then, it would have to be a series of miscues before they would be considered for a release. But the kicker? That attempt could be his last in that uniform. Tomorrow, his agent will be on the phone looking for a new home for his client even if all 32 kicker spots are currently occupied.

The average lifespan in the NFL is 3.5 seasons. Kicker Billy Cundiff played 13 years in the NFL.

Not that his 13 seasons were pretty. No sir. He was well-traveled and got plenty of frequent flyer miles. He had lots of workouts, wore plenty of uniforms, and had a plethora of jersey numbers.

And although he was paid an NFL kicker rate, he did not make the kind of money to set his children up for life. A lot of fans believe that NFL players make bank and their great-grandchildren never have to work. The reality is, Cundiff himself had to get a job once he hung up his cleats. And he is still working.

Cundiff played for the Cleveland Browns in 2009, and then from 2013-2014. While with the Browns, he attempted 61 field goals and made 49 including three from 50+. His field goal percentage was 80.3% and was 64-64 on PATs. He scored 211 points with an average per game set a 6.2 points. He had 83 touchbacks on kickoffs with 9,267 kickoff yards.

His career NFL stats: 182 FG conversions on 239 attempts, 8 for 28 on kicks of 50+, 76.2 FG conversion percentage, made 277 of 278 PATs (one blocked), scored 823 points, 6.1 points per game average, had 191 touchbacks on kickoffs with 32,074 kickoff yards.

Cundiff grew up in Harlan, Iowa which at the time had a population of about 5,000 with a space of approximately three miles by three miles. Everyone knew everyone, and everyone looked out for each other’s kids.

Cundiff excelled in sports.

He was one of the state’s top high jumpers at Harlan Community High School as he finished second in the 1997 State Class 3-A track meet with a jump of 6’, 6”. He led the basketball team to a state runner-up finish his senior year and was All-Conference at the quarterback position and kicker who won the state championship his sophomore and senior years. In his youth he played soccer.

Cundiff had several football scholarship offers from D-2 schools that offered full rides such as Iowa Central. However, his goal growing up was to be a D-1 basketball player and had an appointment offer from the Naval Academy. Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa came into the picture with a soft approach.

Drake was a D-1 school and close to home with just an hour-and-a-half ride. They offered him the ability to play both football as well as his true love – basketball. Strange things happen when you aren’t expecting them. Despite the number of practices he attended and the work he put in with basketball, Cundiff didn’t get much playing time on the court until his junior year whereas he shined and excelled as a kicker on the football field.

The advantage Cundiff had at kicker playing for a school like Drake is that he was able to make mistakes and learn from them without worrying about being benched or thrown off the team. At huge Big-10 institutions, when you struggle, they replace you and suddenly have plenty of free time on your hands.

At the conclusion of his college football career, Cundiff broke five Pioneer Football League (PFL) career records including most points (284), field goals (49), and points after touchdown (137). In addition, he was named First Team All-PFL all four college years and selected First Team Division I-AA All-American his senior year.

After going undrafted in the 2002 NFL draft (like most specialists), he signed as an undrafted rookie free agent with the Dallas Cowboys and beat out their veteran kicker. He played 13 years for 13 different NFL clubs either on their active roster or as a member of the practice squad. His best season was 2010 while kicking for the Baltimore Ravens in which he was named First Team All-Pro, voted to the Pro Bowl, and won the Golden Toe Award.

In preparation for his next step in life, Cundiff went back to grad school in 2015 and began his Master’s in real estate development. During this time in school, he had seven tryouts and actually kicked some for the Buffalo Bills. Despite leaving a year or two on the table, he got an opportunity to work for a good company and decided to transition into the real world.

Cundiff was inducted into the Iowa High School Athletic Association Football Hall of Fame in 2017.

Today, Cundiff, age 44 years old, is a Managing Director of Development for Greystar Development and Construction Services in Arizona. He is responsible for the sourcing, capitalization, permitting, construction, and execution of development projects in Arizona and Southern Nevada. He also holds an Arizona Real Estate license. Cundiff is married to his college sweetheart Nicole and the Christian couple has three children. Cundiff is also an assistant coach on his son’s eighth-grade football team. They live in Phoenix.

Dawgs By Nature’s Barry Shuck caught up with Cundiff to find out why the NFL uses a K-ball, how the NFL is different today, and how in the heck did he kick seven field goals in a single game.

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DBN: You played basketball and football and participated in track at Harlan Community High School. You were the quarterback. How did you end up getting the placekicker job?

Cundiff: I have an older brother Chris. My life has been trying to do what he did, and try to do it a little bit better. Typical little brother. My brother was a quarterback and kicker, played basketball and he high jumped. He also played soccer and I did as well just not in high school because we didn’t have a team. That was literally the driving force. Quarterback was something I wanted to do but was a pretty good kicker. I had a chance to play varsity for three years and won a state championship in my sophomore year as a kicker and both quarterback and kicker in my senior year.

DBN: At Drake University, you broke five Pioneer Football League career kicking records. Tell us about the 62-yard field goal you made against the University of San Diego.

Cundiff: It was a windy day. It can be in your favor or against you. This was early in the season so it was a little warmer. In the stadium, before they reconfigured it, if you caught the wind early in the season as it went right to left, it was like kicking in a tunnel. In pregame, I was hitting 65-yarders. I was feeling good. Coach (Rob) Ash had been watching me and asked how far I thought I could kick. I told him I had already connected on a 65-yarder. The opening drive of the game we stall out and he looks at me like, “Yeah, let’s go do this.” I rolled out there and the other team was yelling, “Watch the fake! Watch the punt!” They couldn’t believe we were attempting that long of a field goal on the opening drive. Got a great snap and hold and didn’t think twice. I put everything I had into it and had probably five yards to spare. Everything came together: a coach that believes in you, a warm windy day, great snap and hold, plus the confidence to get it done.

DBN: You were presented the highest honor for a student-athlete at Drake when you received the Drake Double D Award on February 12, 2012. How did you learn that you would receive this prestigious award, and who was the first person you told?

Cundiff: It was a high honor. During my time at Drake, I broke a lot of records on the field and being named the top student-athlete meant a lot. This was for all sports not just the kicker on the football team. Being recognized for accomplishments on the field as well as in the classroom was special. Now as a parent, I can tell my kids that academics meant as much to me as athletics did. Out of all the awards I received at Drake, that is the one I cherish the most. I called my parents and was excited to share that and give them a “proud parent” moment. Their son had gone off and wasn’t just a one-trick pony.

DBN: At Drake, you were named First Team All-PFL all four years and selected First Team Division I-AA All-American your senior year. Despite a very good college career and being known for having a big leg, you went undrafted in the 2002 NFL draft. Why did you choose the Cowboys over other teams to compete in your rookie year?

Cundiff: I had several teams reach out like the Browns, Steelers, and Rams. They all wanted me to be a camp leg. They all said I could get some film to help me down the road. The Cowboys had a different situation with Steve Hoffman their assistant special teams coach. He called me and told me he liked what he saw but he thought I was pretty raw. They liked finding guys from small schools, coaching them up, putting me in a position to compete and if I did a great job, put me in a position to win the job. That was their business model. A first-year guy was half the price of a fourth-year guy and they were trying to save money in their kicking game. I liked what Hoff was saying and went down and got along with Coach Hoffman right away. My third child Caleb’s middle name is Stephen – that’s how much I think of Coach Hoffman. He changed my life. He taught me a lot about the NFL, about kicking, and how to survive in this league knowing it’s not a career but a job, and that I would have to think about what is next. He is a Renaissance guy who loves to cook and read and travel and expanded my worldview.

DBN: You competed against veteran Tim Seder who just one year earlier had scored 108 points in a single season. But you were able to beat him out and won the job in camp. How were you told that you were now the starting kicker?

Cundiff: I had signed and went to rookie mini-camp and didn’t do very well. I went home and packed up all my stuff and watched Nicole graduate because I still had to do my student teaching to finish my degree. I drove straight to Dallas and got to the hotel about midnight. I had to lift and run that morning and had to meet Hoff at Texas Stadium to kick. They brought in another guy to kick for a competition and said whoever kicks the most field goals gets to stay. I made 13 of 15 and the other guy made 12 of 15 and became my introduction of how the NFL was going to be. They brought other guys in for mini-camps and so by the time I got to training camp to compete for my life against Tim I was exhausted. At Drake, the biggest crowd was 13,000 and never played on TV. Got to Cowboys training camp and there were 15,000 fans just for a walk-through and “Hard Knocks” was there. Everything was overwhelming, but at the same time so exciting. It was the top of the top in my opinion in the NFL when it came to exposure. The Cowboys strive to be on TV and in front of the news at all times. They gave me all the reps in the final preseason game on the road against Jacksonville and I went 2-3 with a new long snapper I literally met in the locker room before the game. I thought I did a good enough job to win it, but didn’t quite know. I got a call that they were getting rid of Tim and keeping me and then the “Hard Knocks” crew followed us around as we began looking for an apartment. I had to buy a suit and stuff like pots and pans and a bed. Life was pretty chaotic in the last 48 hours following that preseason game.

Editor’s note: Cundiff appears beginning at the 7:00 mark

DBN: In 2003 on Monday Night Football against the New York Football Giants on the road early in the season, you kicked seven field goals including the game-winner in overtime. With 11 seconds left in regulation, the Giants Matt Bryant kicked a field goal to go ahead 32-29. Then after several plays with no time left, you nailed a 52-yarder. Take us through how all of that went about.

Cundiff: I had a rough first week with an extra point blocked and a missed field goal. Coach Parcells was going back to The Meadowlands which was a big thing. It was huge. Expected crowd of over 78,000. The media was all over me all week calling me this kid who doesn’t know what to do. There is nothing better than playing in Prime Time. Our offense just kept stalling out, but we got into a really good rhythm with my long snapper Jeff Robinson and Toby Gowan was the holder. Those guys were much older than me so it was a stabilizing force. Matt Bryant kicked the field goal and then kicked a deep squib and it went out between the two and three-yard line. Quarterback Quincy Carter hit Terry Glenn and then bang bang we were in range. I had hit so many it was like let’s just go out and hit another one when I hit. The momentum shifted and we were able to drive down in overtime to set up an easy field goal to win the game.

DBN: You had some injury issues that ended your tenure with the Cowboys. Then you were involved with six NFL teams before landing with the Browns. Those few seasons, did you just keep a suitcase packed at all times?

Cundiff: I did. It was rough. When I hurt my quad it took me a while mentally and physically to recover. But it changed my career for the good because it taught me how to take care of my body. I started training the proper way. I wasn’t great at kickoffs but once I started to develop that changed what I was able to do with the football. I was a substitute teacher waiting for my opportunity. I would go in on a Monday and get a call and leave to go to another workout. Resilience is a skill that’s learned. The only way to learn it is to have to constantly pick yourself back up. I never lost knowing I could get it done, but there were times it was pretty dark. Life was starting to change when my daughter was born.

DBN: You were with the Browns on two different stints. In 2008 Phil Dawson had an injury and you won the job. You beat the Buffalo Bills and were having a good season. Why did Cleveland release you?

Cundiff: Phil got healthy. It was an honor to be with the organization when he was there and nursing a calf injury. I thought the world of him. It was great to have a guy who has been there/done that and be able to ask him questions while he was rehabbing, like how he handled the wind in that stadium and all the conditions.

DBN: Just days after being waived by the Browns, the Ravens jumped on your services. Let’s talk about 2010. You had a stellar year. 26 conversions of 29 field goal attempts, 89.7% success rate, no missed PATs, and a league-high 40 touchbacks. You were named to the Pro Bowl. You were voted First Team All-Pro. You won the Pro Football Weekly Golden Toe Award. After all the teams that you suited up for, after all the times that you were signed and then released, after all the workouts and hopes that this day and this team would finally be your home, did this season support that you were good enough to be an NFL kicker?

Cundiff: Yes. It was my chance to prove that to every single coach and every personnel guy who knew I belonged on the field. I had a great snapper in Morgan Cox and a great holder in Sam Koch and we had a groove. I knew every time we went out there I knew where the ball was going to be. We were winning a lot of games and had an offense that got a lot of opportunities to put points on the board. That was a really fun team and was the peak of my career in the NFL.

DBN: All long snappers, punters, and kickers have this fraternity of brotherhood where y’all all support each other even if you are in competition with one another, and never talk negatively about each other. Why is that?

Cundiff: I think those that do don’t normally criticize others that do. There is a lot to realize why some are successful and you know that the world is just really small. I would watch every kicker on Mondays and Tuesdays and try to pick up things I liked and how could I improve. I don’t know why someone would have to be negative about somebody else especially when you understand what they are going through.

DBN: Why did the NFL invent the K-ball, and other than the “K” marking, what is different about it?

Cundiff: I was told they invented the K-ball because of (punter) Mitch Berger. In the early 2000s, he was cranking out a bunch of touchbacks, which is whose record I eventually broke. He was famous for baking footballs to make them really soft and doctoring them up. I don’t think it’s a thing now watching how these guys are and the league is not as stringent on the K-ball as when it first came out. We tried as hard as we could to work around the rules but all they allowed was a ball brush and a wet towel in order to break in new footballs. It was the NFL’s way of trying to mute some of the touchbacks that took the kickoff out of the game. What is different about the balls is that each one is brand new for that game. The referees take it out of the box before kickoff. The quarterbacks bring whatever footballs they want to the game and have their own rituals of how to make them more pliable. With Dallas, we would leave them in the steam room. The K-ball is supposed to make it harder on the kickers. They mark the balls one, two, or three and we would always know which one was the best and told the ball boy to only use that one. If it happened to go into the stands, they would chase it down and give the fan something in return like a Ray Lewis autograph.

DBN: You returned to Cleveland for 2013 and 2014. With the winds coming off Lake Erie, is that stadium one of the most difficult places to kick?

Cundiff: It is. In fact, the entire AFC North is hard. So is New England. But between Pittsburgh and Cleveland, those were really challenging. You had to hit the ball more pure and find the right line and trust it. Phil Dawson had installed a little flag to help understand where the wind was going in our stadium. Then just hope there wasn’t a gust when you finally lined up to kick. Sometimes you could delay the snap hoping the wind would die down right when we snapped it. So you had to have a little more presence to go out there and kick. It wasn’t in a dome where it didn’t matter and just go through the motions and simply kick the football.

DBN: With the weather so cold in Cleveland from November through January and the winds unpredictable, what was the system you and punter Spencer Lanning developed using balloons?

Cundiff: That was part of the pre-rep hoping to find where the patterns were. The ball travels differently on both sides of the field. We needed to find out if the winds were right in our faces or moving left to right. And when you got past the 25-yard line the wind would be different where winds could possibly shift. Three hours before the game we would be on the Weather Channel and see what their reports called for. The balloons gave us a better grasp what was going on.

DBN: Name your greatest kick. Name your greatest miss.

Cundiff: I had a game against the Bills when I was with the Ravens. I just hit it so pure and in the exact spot. I was aiming at some letters on a sign behind the goalpost and when it went through, it was straight on that letter. It was so pure. The 38-yarder I hit for the Browns against the Falcons was special with an amazing hold by Spencer (Lanning). He got off of his feet and brought it down while giving it a full spin of the ball as I approached the spot. I was able to keep my focus while he was doing all he had to do to get it placed right. The 32-yard miss in the AFC Championship Game to tie the game to send it to overtime against the Patriots will always be the worst miss. The play was rushed and it just went wide left. You can make kicks, and the misses are what sticks with people.

DBN: You just might be a trivia question. “Name the Ravens kicker right before Justin Tucker.” Your thoughts?

Cundiff: Nobody would know that, that’s for sure. He does such a great job. He has done everything and then some.

DBN: A lot of unemployed kickers still work out and wait for the phone to ring. How bittersweet is it to officially retire and close the books on your professional career?

Cundiff: For me I knew I could hang around a few more years. After my time with the Browns, I knew I would be bouncing around. I got my Master’s in real estate development from Arizona State the fall of 2015. That season I had eight tryouts and played one game with the Bills. I kinda knew this could be my life for the next couple of years. At the time I was 35 and played a lot of football. Do I want to play more football? Yeah, I am really competitive. What resonated with me was knowing guys who had played for 20-plus years and were in their 40s and were bitter because they weren’t playing with someone. It was never enough. I did some internships in my off-season and got a job offer from Hines which is a really large national development firm with an office in Phoenix. I decided this was my time to exit stage right. It was a tough thing for me to do because I missed the game a lot. I went into the business world, and never looked back, and I’m glad I did.

DBN: In 13 NFL seasons, you missed just one PAT going 99 for 100. I know you remember that kick.

Cundiff: That was the one that got blocked with the Cowboys. It was the first game of my second season against the Falcons in the fourth quarter. You know that was over 20 years ago.

DBN: You have been involved in Colleen’s Dream to fight ovarian cancer. Why is this foundation important to you?

Cundiff: We started the foundation while my mother-in-law Colleen was still alive. She was battling ovarian cancer and unfortunately, she passed away. After she did, we realized we had to keep going because it is a terrible situation when women are diagnosed with this. Almost all women who are diagnosed die from this. Not a matter of if – but a matter of when. On the research front, they aren’t making the strides they really should, so we started this to help contribute funds to support research. At the end of the day, we want to try to make a difference. We still have people out there raising money but not at the scale that we did.

LINK: COLLEEN’S DREAM FOUNDATION

DBN: You went into real estate after you hung up your cleats. Which is worse: The pressure stuff on the field or the pressure stuff in the business world?

Cundiff: I miss the pressure stuff on the field. You will never find it anywhere else. That little nerve you feel right before a football game, you ask anyone who has played the game at any level and you miss that. The camaraderie with your teammates and getting up and playing the game. I will always miss that. My job has a lot of stress and can be chaotic, but it’s not at the same level as football. You can put off meetings and not start a project on time, but you can’t reschedule a game so you have to be ready to play.

DBN: Greystar Development and Construction Services specializes in building apartment buildings. Is urban design the new way of planning apartment complexes?

Cundiff: Basically yes. In urban markets, we want to make a better space for people to live in. It’s whatever is conceptually appropriate. Like we are doing a deal in suburban Henderson which is a sub-plot of Las Vegas we would probably not be using a ton of urban principles. But where it is more congested it helps people have more amenities and can interact with their space better and apply that for a place they could call home.

DBN: What goes on with a typical day at work for you?

Cundiff: There really is none. At all times we have a lot of projects under construction. My day can be negotiating legal documents to helping our project managers manage their projects better, talking with capital partners, and meeting with cities working with sites to build new projects. It’s everything and the reason I love it. It gives me a chance to be intellectually challenged and coach developers. Help our team to be as successful as possible, so I have taken that sports mentality and applied it.

DBN: Explain what “co-living concept facilities” are.

Cundiff: It is kind of like a dorm. A lot of folks coming out of the pandemic wanted more social interaction. So they get their own room but share a kitchen, so it’s like a college dorm. It will be interesting to see if this concept will play itself out. In downtown Phoenix, there are two projects that are trying that out and see if the test case works.

DBN: What seems trendy in most downtown areas are apartments with retail space underneath at the street level. The planning for this type of project would appear to be more extensive than just constructing every room into a living space. What are the advantages of this type of structure?

Cundiff: Planning staffs in cities love vertically integrated mixed-use. They want ground-floor retail and living above. There are all kinds of issues that come with this. It is an issue with spaces sitting empty. When done really well with amenities for people who live in the building, it is convenient with grocery, coffee shops, and restaurants where you just walk out and have these types of businesses right there. It is sensible and can be great. It feels more like a European experience. People don’t have to deal with traffic with places right there that are really cool and vibrant. As a developer, you have to be thoughtful, but nothing is worse than building a space that sits empty. It can be a big advantage when done well and set up businesses with success.

DBN: Other than money, how is the NFL different today?

Cundiff: The exposure is much greater. More guys post things on social media and plus people have more access to players. That just wasn’t the case when I was around. Fans know so much more about players now, too. It is all-encompassing. That will make it harder for a lot of players to disconnect their identity as a football player when they are done. There is so much money being made in so many different ways. Obviously, there are more games and more international games. But exposure by far is the biggest difference.

DBN: What is your fondest moment of being a Cleveland Brown?

Cundiff: I hit a game-winner against the Saints in 2014. There was excitement early in the year with that success and you believe this is the season that can turn it around and make the playoffs after we won just four games the season before. And to me, it was always putting on the uniform and walking out and realizing that the Cleveland fans were in it. They wanted you to win more than anything else. With the Browns, you had a lot of people behind you rooting for you every game no matter what the weather conditions were. It was a sense of pride wearing the uniform. I never took that for granted.

Editor’s note: Cundiff’s 29-yard game-winner sealed a 26-24 win at home in front of 67,407 fans. The Browns were then 1-1-0 under new head coach Mike Pettine. They would finish 7-9-0 after a 7-4-0 start.