The Cowboys waived Jonathan Garibay and brought a familiar name back into the mix to compete for the starting kicker job. | From @CDBurnett7
Following the 2022 NFL draft, the Cowboys attempted to address the kicker position by bringing in undrafted free agent Jonathan Garibay. The Texas Tech product was lights out as a senior, making 49-of-50 on field goal attempts, including a game-winning 62 yarder against Iowa State.
During training camp though, Garibay struggled and Lirim Hajrullahu dominated the competition from the start. Hajrullahu spent time on the roster in 2021 and even went 5-for-5 on extra points in a win over the Falcons. Although Hajrullahu won the battle, he hasn’t won the war and the team auditioned four kickers on Tuesday. They decided to sign one, a familiar name, as Brett Maher is back with the organization.
The Cowboys are waiving rookie kicker Jonathan Garibay and are expected to sign free agent Brett Maher following his scheduled workout.
Looking towards the new competition, Maher’s history in Dallas was one to be forgotten.
Coming in after the golden years of Dan Bailey, Maher was serviceable in 2018, making 80.6% of his field goal attempts but 2019 was the year to scrap. Maher went 20-for-30 on field goals that season, leading to his exit from Dallas despite booting some of the longest kicks in team history. The former Nebraska kicker made a comeback in 2021 with the Saints and was 88.9% on field goals, leading the Cowboys to call him back to the team.
Heading into the preseason opener on Saturday when the team visits the Denver Broncos, Maher and Hajrullahu will be competing for a job where it wouldn’t be out of the question for Dallas to add another kicker to the mix.
Brett Maher boomed several kicks of over 60 yards during 2 seasons with Dallas, but was let go after struggles from shorter distances. | From @ToddBrock24f7
With two kickers currently struggling in their battle for the starting job in Dallas, the team will reportedly bring in more competition.
That’s music to the ears of many Cowboys fans. But one of the kickers will be a song many wanted to never hear again.
Brett Maher, who kicked for the Cowboys in 2018 and 2019, is being brought back for a new tryout, according to Michael Gehlken of the Dallas Morning News, who cited two individuals familiar with the situation.
Matt Ammendola, Cole Murphy, and JJ Molson will also come to Oxnard for workouts and a kicking evaluation.
Undrafted free agent Jonathan Garibay and former CFL star Lirim Hajrullahu have been underwhelming thus far at camp, though Hajrullahu seems to have taken a slight edge in his make percentage in recent days.
The Kosovo-born specialist went 8-for-8 on Monday, the first perfect day for either kicker in this year’s training camp. Garibay, the Texas Tech product, went 6-for-8.
Maher replaced Dan Bailey for the 2018 season. He ended that season with an 80.6% success rate on 36 field goals and connected on six of over 50 yards, including a then-franchise record 62-yarder versus Philadelphia. He repeated the feat early in 2019 with another 62-yard boot, and then hit a 63-yarder just a couple weeks later.
But frequent misses from more pedestrian distances led to his release in December of that season. He went on to practice squad slots with the Jets, Commanders, Texans, and Cardinals before landing with the Saints for a few weeks in 2021. He went 1-of-2 on field goal tries against the Cowboys in Week 13.
Ammedola was an NFL newcomer last season, making 13 of 19 field goals for the Jets, with a long of 49 yards.
Murphy comes from the USFL, where he went 11-for-12 with the Michigan Panthers, including a 60-yarder against New Orleans.
Molson is a UCLA alum who spent 2021 time on the Packers practice squad and was an emergency option behind Mason Crosby.
Two unproven specialists are battling for the starting kicking job in Dallas, but neither man seems to have much of a leg up. | From @ToddBrock24f7
The Cowboys’ kicking competition was expected to be one to watch coming into training camp. So far, though, watching it hasn’t been pretty.
The team currently has two unproven specialists in Oxnard gunning for the regular-season roster spot. But based on their early performances to this point, it might not be surprising to see special teams guru John Fassel call in some other legs for a look-see.
Undrafted rookie Jonathan Garibay came to the Cowboys from Texas Tech with a 62-yard game-winner in college as his claim to fame. The California native was seen as the heir apparent to All-Pro Greg Zuerlein after the veteran struggled last year.
But then Dallas brought Lirim Hajrallahu back into the building last month. The ex-CFL star spent time in Cowboys camp in 2021 while Zuerlein rehabbed injuries. After a stint on the practice squad, he got the call in Week 10 and connected on five PATs versus Atlanta. He was released shortly thereafter and eventually signed with Carolina for the last three games of their season, hitting 4-of-5 field goals. Now he’s back for a second chance with the Cowboys and to give Garibay a battle.
But neither man seems to be putting their best foot forward.
Michael Gehlken reports that Hajrullahu went 3-for-8 with four straight misses on Tuesday. Garibay went 6-of-8, but missed two of his final three.
Uninspiring field-goal period for Cowboys. Lirim Hajrullahu was 3-of-8 with four straight misses from 43, 48, 48 and 52. Jonathan Garibay went 6-of-8 with misses in two of final three tries (48, 52). Had chance to end on high note from 52 but missed mark. Bit of breeze in Oxnard. pic.twitter.com/ZIlF56QZmX
After that session, head coach Mike McCarthy called for one of his patented “Mojo Moments,” when a real-life game situation is suddenly announced and practiced on the fly.
Given how the Cowboys’ 2021 postseason ended, the team is working on racing the kicking unit onto the field with a running clock.
Hajrullahu got hurry-up field goal tries from 49, 54, and 59 yards. He missed the final two.
Garibay got the same chances. He missed them all.
The first “Mojo Moment” of camp involved a “down by two, clock running out” situation.
Things were slightly more encouraging on Monday. Hajruallahu converted 7-of-8 tries and both his Mojo Moments. Garibay went 6-of-8 but missed both “Mojo” attempts.
McCarthy tried not to sound overly concerned about his kicking unit in his remarks to start the week, but he admitted that that phase of the game will receive extra attention for the next several days.
“It was their first time in front of a crowd, obviously, but also with the protection and rush behind them,” the coach said of his dueling specialists Monday. “It’s not what they were looking for. I think the thing that I walked away from practice [with] is we need to do more of it. Frankly, we’re going to kick every day this week. We’ll kick today and tomorrow, and we’ll kick Thursday and Friday. We’ve got to make sure we get both of those guys more opportunities.”
The Cowboys have lost four games in McCarthy’s two seasons by three points or fewer. Each of those losses saw Dallas miss at least one kick.
A summer breeze in Oxnard may have upped the degree of difficulty slightly for Garibay and Hajrullahu on Tuesday. But it bears remembering that the Cowboys will play outdoor games in Green Bay in mid-November, in Tennessee on New Year’s Eve weekend, and in Washington in early January.
The breezes may be more than stiff then; whoever ends up with the kicking job in Dallas had better develop the resolve to match.
Why the Cowboys can repeat as division champs, Micah Parsons’ speed on display again and how Dallas lowballed Von Miller in free agency. | From @CDBurnett7
The Micah Parsons legend continues to grow. The Cowboys star linebacker once again showed off his impressive speed, dusting more NFL players after winning the fastest man competition during Pro Bowl weekend. While his speed might top the list, is he the best off-ball linebacker in the NFL or does Darius Leonard still hold the top spot?
Fellow linebacker Von Miller was looking towards a deal with Dallas early in the free agency cycle but it ended in disappointment for the Cowboys. New reports confirm Dallas offered Miller $51 million total less than the Bills.
After a season where Greg Zuerlein made fans bite their nails during every kick, can rookie kicker Jonathan Garibay allow the Cowboys to sit back without worry during field goal attempts?
Looking at the NFC East as a whole, Dallas and Philadelphia dominate the offensive talent and it suggests those two finishing at the top of the division in 2022. Can the Cowboys break the 18-year curse of no repeat champions? This and more in the latest News and Notes.
His 62-yard bomb was just one of Jonathan Garibay’s game-winners at Texas Tech; now he hopes to continue the trend as a Cowboys rookie. | From @ToddBrock24f7
It would be a cliché to suggest that one kick changed Jonathan Garibay’s life. The Texas Tech kicker was already a perfect 11-for-11 on the season when he lined up for a 62-yard try in the final seconds of a conference game, at home, with an interim coach, and with the Red Raiders’ bowl eligibility on the line.
A miss in that situation probably wouldn’t have been criticized too hard. No one in the entire FBS had connected from that far all season. No Big 12 kicker had converted a kick so long in over two decades. No Texas Tech kicker had ever made one from that distance.
But Garibay says he’d been waiting for just such a storybook scenario.
“Man, as a kicker, you always dream of moments like that, just having the opportunity to do it,” Garibay said last week, reflecting on that night. “I live by a saying: I’d rather be ready for an opportunity and not have it than have an opportunity and not be ready for it.”
Fast-forward six months, and he definitely has another opportunity in front of him.
With OTAs set to begin, the California-born youngster is suddenly the only kicker on the Cowboys roster. Despite going undrafted, Garibay has become the favorite to succeed All-Pro veteran and 2017 NFL scoring leader Greg Zuerlein in Dallas.
“It’s amazing, the opportunity that the Cowboys organization gave me,” he said. “I’m just trying to do the best with it and run.”
If history repeats itself even a little bit, Garibay will have opportunities aplenty. The 2021 Cowboys lost three regular season games by a field goal or less; Zuerlein had misses in each of them. A 15-2 record instead of 12-5 would have given Dallas the top NFC seed and a first-round bye in the postseason.
“The coaches expect a lot from me, [as do] the players. And I expect a lot from myself,” Garibay told reporters last week following a rookie minicamp session. “I just hope I can help this team accomplish some of its goals.”
Kind of like he did for the Red Raiders with a no-doubter that November night.
“When it came down to it, I was excited for the opportunity to kick that field goal, but at the same time, three seconds left, to qualify for a bowl game…” Garibay recalled, his voice trailing off as he set the scene. “I’m just glad I was able to help my team; everybody was working so hard to get that bowl game.”
Garibay was no stranger to clutch kicks, even prior to that. He had downed West Virginia a month earlier on a field goal with 18 seconds left. A buzzer-beater against Baylor had come the previous November.
So while his 62-yard bomb to beat Iowa State got him some extra attention (it was the longest successful attempt ever in the final minute of an FBS game), Garibay was already on the NFL radar. Pro Football Network had him ranked their No. 4 kicker entering the draft.
The Cowboys released Zuerlein back in March. And they already had Chris Naggar in the building when they elected to sign Garibay as an undrafted free agent. The team also invited ex-Northwest Missouri State star Simon Mathiesen to rookie minicamp, setting the stage for a healthy battle of the boots over the summer.
Cowboys head coach Mike McCarthy even said as much following the first day of work, calling the kicker competition “wide open.”
Naggar was waived that same day. Mathiesen, who last kicked in a game in college in 2016, was always probably a long shot at best.
So while life can change quickly in the NFL and even faster for a rookie kicker who shanks one too many, the job appears to be Garibay’s to lose at this point.
He’s already wearing the No. 1 jersey… not that he’s letting that get in his head.
“It’s 99 percent mental,” Garibay explained before adding with a laugh, “And the other one percent is probably mental, too.”
But in even the most pressure-packed moment of his career thus far, he kept a level head.
“When you get to a distance that far, it’s really hard to give it that nice height,” Garibay said the night of his 62-yard game-winner. “You’ve kind of got to drive it. I looked at the flags at the top of the uprights and thought, ‘The wind’s not blowing. I don’t have to try to kill this ball. I’ve just got to hit a clean ball and hopefully it goes all the way.'”
That’s the mindset he’ll try to keep this summer as he attempts to win the Cowboys starting job, hoping to find himself in the exact same position as his predecessor: with a star on his helmet and a chance to take down the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on opening night of the season.
And while he won’t actually be thinking back to his 62-yard walkoff if it happens, he’ll be subconsciously trying to duplicate its results.
“Take it one kick at a time,” he explains, “because at the end of the day, that’s the mentality you’ve got to have: 1-for-1, all the time.”
So if it ends up leading to a long and successful career teeing them up and knocking them through for the Dallas Cowboys, maybe that one impossibly long kick on a fall night in Lubbock really will have changed Jonathan Garibay’s life after all.
A list of 10 of top moments of the 2021 season across college football.
The final day of 2021 will see both College Football Playoff semifinals kickoff as we march towards the national championship game.
As a whole, the year was a wild one as watched teams try to find a way into the four-team playoff. Teams that were expected to contend for the CFP faltered right out of the gate. Heisman front runners fell off the map and we saw one of the wildest coaching carousels in recent memory.
From sissy blue shirts to wild upsets, there are plenty of moments to reflect back on from the football season in 2021. Here is our list of 10 very memorable moments of the year.
This was the longest field goal in the FBS this season, surpassing a 60-yarder by Oregon State’s Everett Hayes last week. The kick broke the Texas Tech record of 57 yards by Blade Adams against Texas A&M in 1977.
The Red Raiders (6-4, 3-4 Big 12) won for the first time under interim coach Sonny Cumbie. Texas Tech earned bowl eligibility for the first time since 2017.
Red Raiders kicker Jonathan Garibay made his team bowl eligible with a moonshot to beat the Cyclones.
Justin Tucker, who?
May I interest you in Texas Tech kicker Jonathan Garibay, instead? The senior had his number called with the game on the line in Saturday’s home contest against Iowa State, and he came through in a way that likely even his coaches did not expect.
For much of the game, it looked like the Red Raiders, which are currently being led by an interim coach in Sonny Cumbie before new hire Joey McGuire takes over at the conclusion of the season, were going to breeze to an upset win.
They led 28-7 at one point in the first half and even in the fourth quarter, TTU held a two-score lead. But the Cyclones crept back, eventually tying the game 38 with just a minute left.
Texas Tech wasn’t out of life yet, though. It took six plays for the offense to move 31 yards down the field to the ISU 44-yard line, and instead of trying for a Hail Mary, Cumbie sent out Garibay to try from 62 yards.
While the kick was just one yard shy of the NFL record that was broken earlier this season by Tucker, it isn’t the longest kick in college football history (that honor belongs to Abilene Christian’s Ove Johansson, who made a 69-yarder in 1976).
Still, what an absolutely incredible kick to give Texas Tech its first win since it fired coach Matt Wells three weeks ago, as well as bowl eligibility.
Oklahoma got the big win against Kansas State. But how did the rest of the Big 12 fair?
The Oklahoma Sooners got another close win to remain undefeated on the year, defeating Kansas State for the first time since 2018, 37-31. However, this win may have been the Sooners’ most complete performance of the season.
Spencer Rattler played great, throwing more touchdowns (2) than interceptions (1) for 243 yards as the offense scored on seven of its eight drives. While some may look at the 37-31 box score and worry about another one-score win, Oklahoma continues to improve to remain ahead of surging Big 12 foes Oklahoma State, Texas Tech, and Texas.
The top headlines from around the Big 12 Conference. A former Texas assistant back at the unemployment line plus a roundtable from OKC.
On Monday morning we scour the internet for the top stories inside the Big 12 Conference. Former head coach in waiting Will Muschamp found himself at the unemployment line once again. A special visit for the Texas Tech Red Raiders’ new kicker. Plus a Big 12 Roundtable from the Oklahoman. Continue reading “Big 12 Morning Rush: Former head coach in waiting fired at South Carolina”
