Western Alamance kicker Joshua Karty faces uncertain NFL future after Cardinals cut him

Western Alamance graduate Joshua Karty is back on the NFL market, and the cut by the Arizona Cardinals has left Burlington and the rest of Alamance County waiting on his next move. For a player who reached the league as a sixth-round pick and has already kicked in regular-season games, the release was a sharp reminder of how quickly a specialist can go from roster security to uncertainty.

Arizona signed Karty to its active roster off the Los Angeles Rams’ practice squad on Dec. 23, 2025, then brought him back in April before cutting him again earlier this month. The Cardinals’ active roster now lists Chad Ryland at kicker, a sign that Karty does not have an immediate path back in Arizona. That leaves the 6-foot-2, 212-pound kicker, born March 7, 2002, in Burlington, looking for another landing spot as the league moves through a slower stretch of player movement.

Karty was the 209th overall pick in the 2024 NFL Draft out of Stanford, where his résumé had already made him one of the most decorated kickers in school history. Stanford listed him as the consensus No. 1 kicker in the 2020 class, a two-time First Team All-American and a Lou Groza Award finalist and semifinalist. He made 23 of 27 field goals in 2023, the most field goals made in a single season at Stanford at that time, after a high school career at Western Alamance that included all-state honors, three all-conference selections and appearances in the 2019 Shrine Bowl of the Carolinas and the 2020 Under Armour All-America Game.

His NFL numbers show why another team could still take a chance. Pro Football Reference lists Karty with 39 made field goals on 49 attempts and 55 made extra points on 62 attempts for his career. In 2024, he made 29 of 34 field goals and 32 of 36 extra points for the Rams, and in 2025 he went 10 of 15 on field goals and 23 of 26 on extra points. His longest field goal in the NFL was 58 yards, and his 2025 long was 51 yards.

For Alamance County, Karty’s situation is more than a roster note. He is a local name from Western Alamance and Burlington who reached the highest level of football, and his path now reflects the volatility that comes with kicking for a living. The next opportunity may not come immediately, but Karty has already shown enough at Stanford and in two NFL seasons to keep himself in the conversation when a team needs a leg.