Wild video of Cowboys reporters nearly getting drilled by football sparks kicking game fears

The Dallas Cowboys first padded practice gave fans and media alike the opportunity to watch the kicking battle in Oxnard between Brandon Aubrey and Tristan Vizcaino.

Each player had seven attempts. Aubrey missed wide-left from 43 and 45 yards while Vizcaino missed from 33 and 45 yards away.

Vizcaino has been on eight teams the past four years, while Aubrey came to Dallas via the USFL after being recommended by former Cowboys kicker Chris Boniol.

Before Monday, there had been rumors that both kickers had struggled. Aubrey has since taken a slight lead over Vizcaino, but more fuel was added to that fire when the set of dallascowboys.com sponsored show "The Break" was hit by a shanked kick.

Cowboys reporters nearly drilled by errant field goal at training camp

It may be prudent for the Cowboys to wait until preseason games to gauge progress, but the fan base may be ready to move on to a more proven name available in free agency.

Robbie Gould (40) is arguably the best available free agent option but rumors among NFL personnel may prohibit him from receiving a call. Gould went 27-for-32 on field goals and was almost perfect on extra points going 50-for-51. He went 2-for-2 on field goals over 50 yards last season as well.

Adding Gould with these stipulations would undoubtedly force the team to carry two kickers on the roster.

But again, this is pretty damning insight.

Another name mentioned has been former Green Bay kicker Mason Crosby.

Crosby (38) went 25-for-29 on field goals last season. He did miss two extra points going 37-for-39 in that department. Additionally, Crosby recorded 15 touchbacks on 74 kickoffs, meaning he allowed almost 80% of his kicks to be returned.

For reference, last season's kicker Brett Maher registered 100 kickoffs with 78 of those kicked through the end zone. Maher was ranked by Pro Football Focus as the best kickoff man in the game in 2022 while Crosby ranked 63 out of 63 last season. If you are curious, Gould ranked 49th in this category.

The Cowboys might also have competition if their fallback plan is to bring Crosby to Dallas and reunite him with Coach McCarthy.

Packers rookie kicker Anders Carlson has struggled in training camp and calls to bring Crosby back to Green Bay may come sooner than later.

What is notable is the NFL changed the kickoff rules. A player can call for a fair catch on a kickoff if they are behind the 25-yard line.

While the NFL appears to be heading towards eradicating the kickoff altogether for the sake of player safety, coaches might be working to take advantage.

One kickoff option to combat this new rule could be to have kickers kick short in order to eliminate the fair catch. Squib kicks could be under consideration as well.

This would certainly change their approach but until this becomes the norm for this one-year rule, encompassing the entire body of work rather than just field goals appears to be an obstacle for going out and adding a veteran kicker.

While we may feel more comfortable adding a familiar name to the roster, the Cowboys best option may be to wait for things to settle down before moving on from two unproven commodities.

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