Ken Walter

Ken Walter (born August 15th, 1972 in Cleveland, Ohio) is a former American football punter for the New England Patriots in the National Football League. From 1997 – 2000, he played for the Carolina Panthers, from 2001 – 2003 he played for the Patriots, and in 2004 played for the Seattle Seahawks. Previously, he played collegiately for Kent State University.

On the Patriots, Ken served as the holder for placekicker Adam Vinatieri. He successfully held for both of Vinatieri's Super Bowl winning kicks in Super Bowl XXXVI and Super Bowl XXXVIII. He also held for Vinatieri's famous kicks in the Tuck Rule Game against the Oakland Raiders.

At the end of the 2003 season, Walter wasn't re-signed by the Patriots. Walter struggled at the tail end of that season, was cut for a week as he lost his job to Brooks Barnard, then re-signed for the Patriots' final surge to their Super Bowl XXXVIII championship.

Walter's career appeared over, but he was signed by Seattle in November 2004 and punted in six regular season games and one playoff contest. Yet no team called in 2005 and Walter, who underwent surgery on his left shoulder in October, filed his retirement papers with the league.

As Walter rehabilitated his shoulder injury, he was motivated by his physical therapist to make a comeback. He told the Boston Globe that he had been striking the ball as well as he ever has, and both the Texans and Jaguars had him in for tryouts.

Walter was re-signed by the Patriots on November 22, 2006, after current punter Josh Miller was placed on injured reserve. However, Walter himself suffered a season ending injury December 17 against the Houston Texans, and was placed on injured reserve two days later.