Cowboys bringing in four kickers Tuesday, including one name fans will hate

The Dallas Cowboys have a big problem. As it stands right now, they do not have a solid, consistent kicker on their roster for Week 1. Many were confident when the Cowboys signed talented and proven UDFA kicker Jonathan Garibay out of Texas Tech. People even shrugged off the idea that the team brought in veteran Lirim Hajrullahu, assuming that it was just protocol rather than an actual competition.

Now, two full weeks into camp, the narrative couldn’t be more different. Both the rookie and the veteran have been struggling mightily during camp, both in stressful and non-stressful situations. Fans saw video after video of bother kickers missing easy attempts from not-so-far distances. The sense of urgency seemed to rapidly increase.

Now, with just two days left of camp, the Cowboys’ front office is finally doing something about it. However, fans may not entirely be happy with who the team is bringing in.

On Monday afternoon, Michael Gehlken of the Dallas Morning News reported that the team would be bringing in three kickers for Tuesday’s practice, including a very familiar name. The three kickers are Matt Ammendola, Cole Murphy, and former Cowboys kicker Brett Maher.

A bit later, Clarence Hill Jr. of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram reported that Dallas would also be bringing in J.J. Molson.

Let’s be clear. None of these options are “good” by any means. Ammendola went undrafted in 2020 and was eventually signed by the New York Jets in 2021. He was released in December after missing six of his 19 attempts (which sadly doesn’t sound that bad in comparison to the kickers at Cowboys camp) but was brought back on the practice squad a few days later. He was released again in late March of this year.

Murphy was an inaccurate kicker in his time at Syracuse but did play well in the USFL in 2021. He made 11 of 12 field goals and nine of 11 extra point attempts for the Michigan Panthers.

Molson has zero NFL field goal attempts to his name. The former UCLA Bruin went undrafted and ended up on the practice squad for the Packers in 2021. The kicker barely played, making one extra point and six kickoffs in his time in Green Bay.

While Maher may be the best current kicker of the bunch, the fact that the team is bringing him in has Cowboys fans furious. You may remember Maher as the person who caused the Cowboys to desperately sign Greg Zuerlein. In 2018 and 2019, he made 80.6% and 66.7% of his field goal attempts.

Maher’s 10 misses in 2019 were more than any kicker had missed in the previous four seasons.

Dallas Cowboys fans are livid that the front office is bringing in Brett Maher for a kicker tryout

The sentiment towards the kicker still seems to be quite negative given some of the tweets from Cowboys reporters, fans, and analysts.

RJ Ochoa, the editor of Blogging the Boys, seemed particularly heated about Maher. He deemed the decision a step backward.

This fan seemed to think the current kickers at camp were a better option than Maher.

https://twitter.com/KevinGraySports/status/1556761624622632961?s=20&t=tfXCIcCPicuXtrtidNIFfQ

Kevin Gray Jr. of 105.3 The Fan said fans won’t take the team seriously with this decision.

This sports editor said the organization clearly does not care what the public thinks about its decisions.

So far in camp, Gehlken reported that Hajrullahu has converted 50-of-59 kicks (84.7%) and Garibay made only 33 of 60 (55%) under the same conditions.

Bringing in new kicking blood certainly seems necessary but are these options really options? Is bringing in questionable players really any better than sticking with what you have? I guess we will find out.