Brett Maher (gridiron football)

Brett Maher (born November 21, 1989) is an American professional football placekicker who is a free agent.

He played college football for the Nebraska Cornhuskers.

Since turning professional in 2013, Maher has been a member of nine different National Football League (NFL) teams, and three Canadian Football League (CFL) teams.

Maher attended Centennial Public Schools in Utica, Nebraska for his first three years of high school before transferring to Kearney High School, where he played high school football for the Bearcats.

As a senior, Maher made 8-of-14 field goals, 41 of 46 extra points, and averaged 41.1 yards per punt.

He also played wide receiver, posting 775 receiving yards and 10 touchdowns.

Maher received All-state honors from the Lincoln Journal Star and Omaha World-Herald at the end of the season.

In basketball, Maher was an honorable-mention Class A all-state pick as a senior.

In track, he won the long jump and pole vault state championships as a senior, setting a state record in the latter.

Maher has pole vaulted 4.93m (16'-2").

Maher turned down other football scholarship offers to walk-on at the University of Nebraska.

As a redshirt freshman and as a sophomore, he appeared in all games as the holder for field goals and extra points, while also serving as the backup punter behind Alex Henery.

As a junior, Maher was named the starter at placekicker and punter after Henery graduated.

Maher made 19-of-23 field goals, 43-of-44 extra points and averaged 44.5 yards per punt (sixth in school history).

He received Big Ten Conference Special Teams Player of the Week honors three times, while being named Eddleman-Fields Big Ten Punter of the Year and Bakken-Andersen Big Ten Kicker of the Year.

Maher became one of the few specialists in Big Ten history to be named All-Conference both at kicker and punter in the same season.

As a senior, the school awarded Maher with a football scholarship.

He made 20-of-27 field goals, all of his 59 extra point attempts, 57 touchbacks out of 96 kickoffs, and averaged 41.8 yards per punt.

Maher's 20 field goals ranked second in school history for a season, and his 119 points set a record for most points scored by a kicker.

Maher ranked third overall in conference in scoring and first among kickers.

He received the Bakken-Andersen Big Ten Kicker-of-the-Year Award for the second straight year.

Maher finished his collegiate career with 39-of-50 made field goals (78%), 219 points, 120 punts for a 43.2-yard average and 43 punts inside the 20-yard line.

Maher was signed as an undrafted free agent by the New York Jets after the 2013 NFL Draft on May 12, 2013, earning the contract following a rookie minicamp tryout.

He was waived on July 23, to make room for placekicker Billy Cundiff.

On August 11, 2013, Maher was signed by the Dallas Cowboys, to play in the preseason while Dan Bailey recovered from an injury.

Maher was released two weeks later on August 27.

On May 1, 2014, Maher signed a contract with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers of the Canadian Football League (CFL).

He played in two preseason games for the Bombers before being released by the team due to the restrictions on the number of national and international players on the team's roster; the team kept their Canadian incumbent, Lirim Hajrullahu.

A few weeks after being released by Winnipeg, Maher signed with the Ottawa Redblacks.

In Week 4 of the season, Maher was named the CFL's Special Teams Player of the Week after going 6-for-6 on field goals, scoring all the Redblacks' points in an 18–17 decision over the Toronto Argonauts.

The victory marked the expansion club's first-ever win.

On May 13, 2015, Maher was released by the Redblacks because of a hip injury he suffered in the prior month, before the start of training camp.

Maher missed all but four games during the season due to the injury.

On May 19, 2016, Maher signed with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats after taking part in a team minicamp.

He completed 82% of his field goal attempts that season, going 41-for-50, and had a punt average of 45.9 yards.

On March 20, 2017, Maher signed with the Cleveland Browns.

On May 2, Maher was released after not being able to pass rookie Zane Gonzalez on the depth chart.

On June 10, 2017, Maher signed with the Redblacks.

He achieved the same completion percentage as the previous season in Hamilton (82%), recording the same number of field goals (41) on 50 attempts.

Maher's punt average was 46.7 yards.