Australian punter Mat McBriar has been signed by the San Diego Chargers.
McBriar, a 35-year-old from Melbourne who was drafted by the Denver Broncos in 2003 and played on numerous clubs, including eight years on the Dallas Cowboys, has spent the current NFL season without a team.
The Chargers needed a punter to replace veteran Mike Scifres who broke his left collarbone on Sunday in the team's 23-14 loss to New England.
McBriar, a two-time Pro Bowl selection, and three other punters, Brian Moorman, Robert Malone and Zoltan Mesko, worked out for the Chargers on Tuesday and it was the big boot from Brighton Grammar School who impressed.
San Diego is the perfect club for McBriar, who lives nearby with wife Erin and son Will in the picturesque southern Californian town of Solana Beach.
It will also keep him close to mentor and trailblazing Australian NFL punter Darren Bennett, who played for the Chargers from 1994 to 2003.
When McBriar first attempted to forge an NFL career he slept on Bennett's couch.
Bennett, who says McBriar is like his oldest son, joked he eventually had to boot the young punter out of his house.
It was the middle of our football season, my last as a Charger I think, and I had to kick him out, Bennett told Chargers.com.
I was like, 'I'm trying to get through my own season, I can't have you moping about anymore'.
Scifres had surgery on Monday and could return in January if the Chargers make a playoff run.
Australia's other NFL punter Brad Wing plays for another of McBriar's former clubs, the Pittsburgh Steelers.
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