Cowboys punter Bryan Anger unlikely to return after record season

The Dallas Cowboys signed punter Bryan Anger to a one-year, $1.075 million contract ahead of the 2021 season. In his tenth year in the NFL, the veteran punter earned himself a Pro Bowl nomination for the first time in his career.  As part of a special teams unit that often struggled (looking at you, Greg Zuerlein), Anger was a consistent and helpful presence on the Cowboys roster.

The punter was drafted in the third round of the 2012 NFL Draft by the Jacksonville Jaguars. You may remember this because of the strange choice by the Jags to take a punter over quarterback Russell Wilson who was still available at the time. Anger spent four years with the Jaguars, three years with the Bucs, two years in Houston, and then landed in Dallas for 2021.

Anger broke a Cowboys franchise record by netting an average of 44.6 yards per punt this season proving that he was absolutely worth the minimum contract amount he earned. Even though punter may not be the most important position on a football field, you’d think that Dallas would want to keep a guy around who is consistent and reliable. Apparently not.

According to Michael Gehlken of the Dallas Morning News, the Cowboys are planning on letting the punter walk in free agency. While Anger has certainly earned himself more than the minimum contract for 2022, it’s hard to imagine he’s going to get such a massive deal that Dallas can’t afford to keep him. Gehlken says Anger plans to shop around and the Cowboys will likely (yet again) hit the bargain board of free agency to fill the position.

Cowboys plan to let punter Bryan Anger walk in free agency. Is Hunter Niswander capable enough to fill Anger’s shoes?

It seems that every year, the Cowboys make questionable decisions in the offseason. You would think the team learned a thing or two about inconsistent special teams’ play from Zuerlein. But maybe the front office is leaning on Hunter Niswander. Niswander was an undrafted free agent out of Northwestern in 2018 but did play a handful of games for the Cowboys in 2020.

The punter spent 2021 on the injured reserve after sustaining a back injury in the preseason. In the eight games that Niswander played in 2020, he had 26 punts for 1,228 yards. That gave him an average of 47.2 yards per punt. Not bad. But those are his only stats in his four years since leaving Northwestern. While Niswander is a cheap option, who knows if he is a reliable one.

As more and more decisions unfold in Dallas, the future of this roster seems to become even more confusing. Hopefully, the Cowboys’ decision to let Anger walk doesn’t come back to haunt them in games. You don’t realize what you have until it’s gone.