Breaking down Cowboys’ kicker options to replace Greg Zuerlein
The Dallas Cowboys are desperately in need of a reliable kicker. Last season, veteran Greg Zuerlein had an incredibly inconsistent year. The former Pro Bowler made only 82% of his field goals and missed six extra-point kicks, which was the most missed in the league. Out of the five Cowboys losses, three of them were decided by less than three points. Zuerlein missed at least one kick in each of those three games.
Instead of trying to trade or pick someone else up heading into the postseason, the Cowboys chose to stick with Zuerlein. In February, the team signed Chris Naggar to a Futures/Reserve contract. Naggar was far from an experienced placekicker (playing in one NFL game), but he was a body to give Zuerlein some competition. That was until March 11, when the Cowboys decided to cut Zuerlein, leaving only Naggar on the roster heading into the 2022 NFL Draft.
The 2022 draft class actually had a lot of talented kickers with names like Cade York, Gabe Brkic, and Cameron Dicker. However, Dallas decided to wait until after the draft to address the weak spot. The Cowboys signed undrafted free agent Jonathan Garibay out of Texas Tech. Garibay has had some record-breaking kicks, and unlike Zuerlein, was incredibly accurate in college. Heading into rookie camp it looked like Naggar and Garibay would battle it out for the kicker spot.
However, last Friday, the Cowboys waived the NFL kicker to open up a roster spot. Michael Gehlken of the Dallas Morning News said it is certainly possible that Naggar re-signs with the team, but for now, Garibay is quite literally the Cowboys’ only option.
Roster spot cleared: Cowboys waived kicker Chris Naggar, they announced. Team needed to get to 90 players and now has. This leaves undrafted rookie Jonathan Garibay as only kicker, although just for time being. Plenty of competition ahead. https://t.co/GBpSsbvOTQ
— Michael Gehlken (@GehlkenNFL) May 13, 2022
Breaking down the kicker options for the Dallas Cowboys heading into 2022
While Garibay is certainly a great collegiate kicker, you’d think the Cowboys would want to bring in a veteran of some kind. And, they had their chances. At the start of free agency, there were several decent kickers available on the market. The front office chose not to make offers for free agents like Younghoe Koo, Nick Folk, or Matt Gay. Instead, they kept quiet.
Now, the options for Dallas are incredibly meager. Not only are there very few remaining free agent kickers altogether, but none of them are anything to write home about. For the sake of seeing what’s out there, let’s take a look at three options for Dallas.