Cowboys reportedly moving on from Maher at kicker

The Dallas Cowboys look to be moving in another direction at the kicker position next season, as owner Jerry Jones stated they will be moving on from Brett Maher. Maher lasted just one season in his second stint with the Cowboys.

An argument can be made that Maher deserved a chance to come back after the season he put up. Maher finished the regular season 29 of 32 on field goal attempts and 50 of 53 on extra points. His three field goal misses were two 59-yard bombs and a 46-yard attempt.

Of course, what people will remember of Maher this season was his performance in the Wild Card round against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, where despite the Cowboys taking the win, Maher missed four of five extra-point attempts in the game setting the record for most extra points missed in a postseason game. He then followed that up with a blocked extra point attempt in his first and only try against the San Francisco 49ers in the divisional round. Maher would also hit two field goals in that game. Dating back to Week 18 against Washington, Maher finished just one of seven on extra-point attempts.

So, the Cowboys find themselves in a similar position to what they have been in the past several years, with uncertainty at kicker. Since the Cowboys moved off of Dan Bailey in 2017, they have yet to find a stable solution for the position. Maher took his place for two seasons until the Cowboys opted to go with Greg Zuerlein, who also just lasted two seasons. They eventually landed with Maher again this past season after a failed attempt at a kicker competition in camp between Jonathan Garibay and Lirim Hajrullahu.

The Cowboys could potentially have options to fill the position, with several veteran kickers hitting the free-agent market. Kickers like Robbie Gould, Mason Crosby, Matt Gay, Matt Prater, and Zuerlein could all be had this offseason.

It is also possible for the Cowboys to look to the draft for a kicker, which they have done four times in their history. They selected Harold Deters, who played just three games for Dallas, in the 12th round of the 1967 NFL Draft, as well as Max Zendejas in the fourth round in 1986. Zendejas never kicked for the Cowboys. More recently, Dallas drafted longtime NFL veteran Nick Folk in the sixth round of the 2007 NFL Draft, who spent three years in Dallas before going to the New York Jets and, eventually, the New England Patriots. David Buehler is the most recent kicker drafted by Dallas; he was drafted in the fifth round of the 2009 Draft. He played in 36 games for the Cowboys over three seasons.

Dallas will once again be looking for a kicker this offseason in what has become all too familiar for them over the last six years.