Cowboys contemplating ‘anyone else on Earth’ at kicker after Brett Maher debacle
The Cowboys are actually taking their time earlier than deciding on a kicker for the 2023 season, maybe a transfer out of desperation to keep away from one other fiasco such because the Brett Maher one which outlined their postseason.
Dallas particular groups coordinator John Fassel told the team’s website that the workforce will take into account Tristan Vizcaino, who’s presently on the roster, in addition to “anyone else on Earth who is just not on the workforce proper now.”
“That’s everybody actually,” Fassel stated. “I feel we now have quite a lot of completely different guys that we’re nonetheless — XFL, USFL, veterans on the road, youthful guys who nonetheless haven’t discovered their manner.”
That seems to be an apparent message to Vizcaino — an undrafted free agent in 2019 who has tried simply 12 area objectives and 20 further factors in his NFL profession — that his place on the roster is something however a assure.
Final yr, throughout the Cowboys’ wild-card victory over the Buccaneers, Maher turned the primary kicker in NFL historical past to miss four extra points in the same game.
Fassel stated that “all the things is on the desk,” which features a potential reunion with Maher.
Fassel added he thinks Maher will “carry out nicely” whether or not his subsequent contract comes with the Cowboys or with one other NFL workforce, and he particularly referenced unsigned veterans Mason Crosby, Robbie Gould and Ryan Succop as potential veteran choices the Cowboys may usher in between now and coaching camp.
Head coach Mike McCarthy saved turning to Maher for kicking makes an attempt, even because the misses strung collectively, till the fourth quarter when McCarthy opted for a two-point conversion try as an alternative.
Then, within the divisional spherical towards the 49ers, Maher missed his first try at an extra point, with the kick getting blocked regardless that it could’ve veered vast anyway, in line with Fox analyst Greg Olsen.
The Cowboys misplaced that sport to the 49ers, ending their season and stopping McCarthy from having to make an instantaneous choice at kicker.
McCarthy caught with Maher in between playoff video games regardless of the 4 misses, although, and proprietor Jerry Jones publicly endorsed Maher’s standing forward of the San Francisco sport — whereas even conversing with the 33-year-old on the sphere throughout pregame warmups.
Vizcaino joined their practice squad in between the Buccaneers and 49ers video games, which, regardless of the help from McCarthy and Jones, gave the impression to be a precautionary transfer in case Maher’s struggles continued.
Maher stays unsigned and the Cowboys haven’t supplied him a brand new contract within the 4 months after the traditionally poor stretch of kicking.
Maher returned to Dallas, the place he made his NFL debut in 2018, in 2022 following a season with the Saints, and he related on 29-of-32 area objectives (career-best 90.6 p.c) and 50-of-53 further factors (94.3 p.c) throughout the common season.