Dallas Cowboys kicker Dan Bailey expected to miss several weeks

The Dallas Cowboys could be without their most consistent offensive weapons as kicker Dan Bailey is expected to miss several weeks due to a groin injury.

Having a reliable kicker in the NFL is no longer a luxury. And those teams that don’t have one, absolutely need one. And despite of all the issues the Dallas Cowboys have suffered from in the past few seasons, needing a kicker has not been one of them.

That’s because America’s Team found Dan Bailey in 2011. Signed as an undrafted free agent out of Oklahoma State, Bailey has become the NFL’s most consistent kicker. Currently, his field goal average of 89.899% makes him the most accurate kicker in league history. And Bailey has never missed a single extra point attempt, as he’s a perfect 266 for 266.

In his seventh season in Dallas, Bailey has become the Cowboys most consistent weapon. This year so far, the 29-year old is a flawless seven for seven in field goal attempts. But after two successful extra point attempts in Sunday’s game against the San Francisco 49ers, Bailey injured his groin.

According to NFL Network insider Ian Rapoport, that injury will now keep Bailey on the sidelines for several weeks, according to unnamed sources.

Without Bailey in the lineup, Dallas was forced to turn to safety Jeff Heath against the Niners on Sunday, who was a kicker in high school. Heath ended up making two of his three extra point attempts while also booting kick offs. Those two extra point completions were the longest successful kicking attempts by someone in the NFL other than a kicker in 38 years.

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But don’t expect to see Jeff Heath kicking again anytime soon. The Dallas Cowboys are expected to work out several unemployed kickers to replace the injured Dan Bailey. One of them being Sam Irwin-Hill, who hit on two of his three field goal attempts and was successful in all seven of his extra point attempts in the preseason for Dallas.