The last time Adam NeVille, the president of the San Tan Youth Football League, saw Matt Prater in person was Tuesday night, on a football field in their southeastern Phoenix suburb.

Prater, one of the league’s volunteer assistant coaches, was helping out with his son’s team in the 9-to-11-year-old division and was uniquely qualified for the role. Through last season he had played in every NFL season since 2007 as a kicker, including the last four with the Arizona Cardinals, and even held the league’s record for most field goals over 50 yards.

But when NeVille and Prater saw one another last week at practice, there was a real question as to whether Prater would be playing a 19th season at all. The day before, all 32 of the league’s teams had finalized their 53-man active rosters, and Pra

See Full Page