The Cowboys have two kickers at the moment, but neither is doing much to prove that he’s the team’s answer.
The exact same thing was true one year ago to the day.
Tristan Vizcaino and Brandon Aubrey, the two competitors currently vying for the starting kicker position at training camp in Oxnard, were equally unimpressive on Saturday, combining to go just 9-of-15 on their kicks during the team’s practice. Every miss came from 42 yards or closer.
The display earned a chorus of noticeable boos from the fans in attendance.
As per Michael Gehlken of the Dallas Morning News, a team official explained that there were extenuating circumstances to several of those missed kicks. Poor operation increased the difficulty for at least one Vizcaino attempt and forced a re-try, while wind made several kicks the equivalent of 60-plus yards.
But those kinds of excuses wouldn’t be much consolation during a game. Not to a fanbase that knows their team has been involved in 10 contests over the past three seasons that were decided by three points of fewer.
During one hurry-up period of Saturday’s practice meant to simulate game-time scenarios, Vizcaino and Aubrey combined to go 1-for-6.
The kickers have struggled MIGHTILY today, both at the top of practice and definitely in the mojo moment.
This hurt to watch. #Cowboys
Only one FG was made (see 2nd tweet), as both kickers faltered. pic.twitter.com/yUtUJ4LCGy
— Patrik [No C] Walker (@VoiceOfTheStar) August 5, 2023
Both kickers, of course, are in camp after Brett Maher’s historically bad day during the wild-card round of the postseason, when he missed an NFL record four PATs versus Tampa Bay. Maher returned the following week and had another blocked, prompting the club to look for other options for 2023.
The Cowboys brought Vizcaino and his minimal NFL experience onto the practice squad during that week in January between postseason games, the apparent insurance policy in case they had decided not to give Maher another chance in the divisional round.
Aubrey spent the previous two seasons in the USFL and has been the more accurate kicker thus far during camp, though questions about whether the long-term answer is even on the Dallas roster are only getting louder as camp continues.
Gehlken reports that widening the net for a new kicker does not appear to be in the immediate cards for the Dallas front office. He cites a Cowboys executive as calling an impending free agent workout “unlikely.”
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The plan is apparently to let Vizcaino and Aubrey keep battling it out, with their performances in Saturday’s upcoming preseason game against Jacksonville likely to count heavily in the coaching staff’s decision.
In 2022, the team watched Lirim Hajrullahu and Jonathan Garibay similarly struggle through the initial weeks of camp before finally going outside and signing Maher on Aug. 9, just 33 days before the regular-season opener.
The Cowboys- and somebody filling the role of starting kicker- will visit the New York Giants 34 days from right now to launch their 2023 season.
So by this time last year, the team had seen enough from their ineffective camp legs to come up with a new plan.
Free agent veterans Robbie Gould, Mason Crosby, Ryan Succop, and Randy Bullock are currently on the open market.
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