Shayne Graham

Michael Shayne Graham (born December 9, 1977 in Radford, Virginia) is an American football placekicker for the New England Patriots of the National Football League. He was signed by the New Orleans Saints as an undrafted free agent in 2000. He played college football at Virginia Tech.

Graham has also played for the Seattle Seahawks, Buffalo Bills, Carolina Panthers, Cincinnati Bengals, Baltimore Ravens and New York Giants.

Early years
Graham attended Pulaski County High School in Dublin, Virginia, graduating in 1996. He holds many of the school's kicking records including most field goals in career (28, from 1992–1995), most field goals in a game (15, 1995), and longest field goal, a 54-yarder against Anacostia in 1995.

College career
Graham played college football at Virginia Tech and was named to the first-team All-Big East Conference in all four seasons. In 1999, as a senior, Graham earned Big East Special Teams Player of the Year honors after leading the conference and breaking the school's single-season scoring record with 107 points on 56-of-57 extra points and 17-of-22 field goals. He was 68-of-93 (73.1%) in field goals for his Virginia Tech career and set a Virginia Tech and Big East record with 97 consecutive successful extra points. He left Virginia Tech as the all-time scoring leader in school history and Big East history with 371 points.

New Orleans Saints
After going undrafted in the 2000 NFL Draft, Graham signed with the New Orleans Saints on June 30, 2000. After going 1-for-1 on extra points and not attempting a field goal in the preseason, he was waived on August 22, 2000.

Seattle Seahawks
Graham was signed by the Seattle Seahawks on April 27, 2001. He was 6-for-6 on extra points in the preseason but had his only field goal attempt blocked. He was waived on September 2, 2001.

Buffalo Bills
The Buffalo Bills signed Graham on November 27, 2001 to replace rookie kicker Jake Arians after Arians missed an extra point. Graham played in the Bills' final six games, going 6-for-8 on field goals.

Return to Seattle
Graham was re-signed by the Seahawks on May 13, 2002. He began training camp with Seattle before being waived on August 13, 2002.

Carolina Panthers
Graham signed with the Carolina Panthers on September 28, 2002, after an injury to veteran John Kasay. He played in 11 of the Panthers' final 13 games, leading the team in scoring with 60 points. He was 13-of-18 on field goals and averaged 66 yards on his five kickoffs. After spending the 2003 preseason with Carolina, Graham was waived on August 31.

Cincinnati Bengals
The Cincinnati Bengals claimed Graham off waivers on September 1, 2003. With the Bengals in 2003, Graham played in all 16 games and set a franchise record by making 88% (22-of-25) of his field goals.

In the following offseason, Graham was tendered a restricted free agent offer sheet by the Jacksonville Jaguars, but the offer was matched by the Bengals. In 2004, Graham narrowly missed matching his previous season's accuracy mark, finishing the year 27-of-31 (87.1%) on field goals. In 2005, Graham made 28-of-32 field goals (87.5%), scored a franchise record 131 points, was selected to be the kicker for the AFC Pro Bowl squad, and helped the Bengals record their first winning season since 1990. Graham was the first kicker in franchise history ever to be selected to play in a Pro Bowl.

In 2006, Graham finished fourth in the AFC with 115 points and was 25-of-30 (83.3%) on field goals on the season. In 2007, Graham missed his first field goal attempt of the season (a 53-yard attempt). But after that, he set set a Bengals record by kicking 21 consecutive field goals without a miss over the season's first 10 games. This included a game against the Baltimore Ravens where he set a franchise record by kicking 7 field goals (the second highest total in NFL history). His streak came to an end when he missed a 26-yard attempt in Week 12. By the end of the season, Graham set new franchise records for field goals in a season (31) and field goal percentage (91.2).

Graham finished the 2008 season with an 87.5 field goal percentage, going 21-of-24. In 2009, Graham went 23-of-28 in the regular season, his lowest percentage — 82.1 — in his Bengals career. In the Wild Card playoffs on January 9, 2010, Graham missed two field goals in the Bengals' 24–14 loss to the New York Jets, including a 28-yard attempt that would have cut the score to 24–17 late in the fourth quarter. After the game, Marvin Lewis commented on Graham's missed field goals stating "It is a shame, and it killed us. Unfortunately kicking is mostly a one-man operation. I know Shayne feels worse about it than anyone. Those points obviously make a big difference."

He was not re-signed as an unrestricted free agent following the 2009 season.

Baltimore Ravens
The Baltimore Ravens signed Graham to a one-year deal on June 3, 2010, but he was released by the team at the end of the preseason on September 4, 2010.

New York Giants
On October 16, 2010, Graham signed with the New York Giants following an injury to kicker Lawrence Tynes. He was released on October 18, after going 4-for-4 on extra points and not attempting a field goal in the Giants' Week 6 win over the Detroit Lions.

New England Patriots
On November 10, 2010, the New England Patriots signed Graham after an injury to kicker Stephen Gostkowski. In his first game, in Week 10 against the Pittsburgh Steelers, Graham was 2-for-2 on field goals but missed one of four extra point attempts on the night. In eight games, Graham finished the 2010 season 12-for-12 on field goals, and 35-for-37 on extra points. In the playoffs, Graham was 2-for-2 in the Patriots loss to the Jets.