Miami Dolphins Placekicker Dan Carpenter Named to AFC Pro Bowl Squad

At the conclusion of the regular season, the Miami Dolphins had one Pro Bowl selection: offensive tackle Jake Long. Now, they have three.

The same week Dolphins strong safety Yeremiah Bell was named as a replacement for Indianapolis Colts safety Antoine Bethea, it was announced that Dan Carpenter will replace the San Diego Chargers' Nate Kaeding as the AFC squad's kicker.

It's no surprise to see Kaeding withdraw from the game, as his three missed field goals in the divisional round of the playoffs greatly hurt his team in an eventual loss to the New York Jets.

A second-year player originally signed as an undrafted free agent out of Montana, Carpenter joins ex-Dolphins Garo Yepremian and Olindo Mare as just the third placekicker in franchise history named to the Pro Bowl.

Although a strong case could have been made for Raiders kicker Sebastian Janikowski, who missed just one kick all season under 57 yards, Carpenter is certainly not a bad pick either.

After maintaining his hold on the Dolphins' placekicking job in a preseason kicking competition with Connor Barth, Carpenter went on to convert 25-of-28 field goal attempts and all but one extra point attempt during the 2009 regular season.

With the additions of Bell and Carpenter, the Dolphins will now have two representatives in the 2010 Pro Bowl being played in their home stadium. Jake Long withdrew from the game earlier this month due to injury.


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Chris J. Nelson is a journalism major at Georgia State University. He operates his own Miami Dolphins Web site, The Miami Dolphins Spotlight, and can be followed on Twitter here.