The Carolina Panthers have signed free agent punter Mike Scifres (pronounced SIGH-fres) to a one-year contract and waived punter Michael Palardy, the team announced Tuesday.
Scifres, 35, joins the Panthers after spending the previous 13 seasons of his career with the San Diego Chargers. He holds San Diego’s career records with a gross average of 45.2 yards and a net average of 38.6 yards. In 2012, he set the Chargers single-season record and ranked third in the NFL with a 48.3-yard gross average.
Last season, Scifres generated a gross average of 45.3 yards and a net average of 38.2 yards with 15 punts inside the 20 and a long of 68 yards on 72 punts.
Scifres, 6-2 and 215 pounds, entered the NFL as a fifth-round (149th overall) draft choice of the Chargers in the 2003 NFL Draft. Scifres has played in 195 career regular season games, punting 756 times with 293 inside the 20 and a long of 72 yards.
