Tag: kicker workouts

Cowboys place Greg Zuerlein on COVID list, to work out Brett Maher

The Cowboys were said to be holding kicker workouts on Wednesday; Zuerlein’s status and availability for Sunday is still not known. | From @ToddBrock24f7

Kicker Greg Zuerlein has been placed on the Reserve/COVID-19 list, according to the Cowboys. As of Tuesday afternoon, it is not known if Zuerlein tested positive for the virus or was deemed a close contact of someone else who received a positive test.

Until the kicker’s exact status is made public, it is also unclear if he would be eligible to return to action before Sunday’s game versus the Falcons at AT&T Stadium in Arlington.

Zuerlein got no kicking opportunities in Week 9’s loss to Denver, save for three kickoffs. He missed a field goal in each of the two previous games, and two in the season opener. He is 14-of-18 on three-point tries, 21-of-23 on extra points for the season.

Michael Gehlken of the Dallas Morning News reports that the Cowboys would be looking at new options on Wednesday.

Currently, the Cowboys do not have a backup kicker. When Zuerlein was on injured reserve during training camp, the team brought in Lirim Hajrullahu for a short preseason stint. The former CFL All-Star was re-signed to Dallas briefly as special teams coordinator John Fassel assessed Zuerlein’s Week 1 troubles.

Brett Maher is reported to be one of the kickers being looked at. Maher played for Dallas in 2018 and for most of 2019, going 49-of-66 on field goals and 68-of-69 on PATs. Maher made multiple kicks of 60-plus yards as a Cowboy, but was released late in the 2019 season over accuracy issues.

Kai Forbath, who went 10-for-10 on field goals and 10-for-10 on extra points for the Cowboys during a three-game spell in 2019 (when he took over for Maher), is among the experienced NFL kickers not currently on a roster.

Fassel has said that punter Bryan Anger would be the team’s emergency kicker for an in-game situation. He’s also suggested that wide receiver Cedrick Wilson, defensive end Azur Kamara, and center Tyler Biadasz all have some degree of kicking skill, though the Dallas coaching staff is certainly not considering using any of them in an actual game if there is time to secure the services of a free agent specialist.

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Report: Cowboys working out CFL kicker before clash with Texans

The Cowboys maintain Greg Zuerlein will be fine Week 1, but he remains on the PUP list. Now the team is looking at a former CFL All-Star. | From @ToddBrock24f7

The Cowboys are, to hear them tell it, all set at the kicker position, despite the fact that their presumed specialist remains on the Physically Unable to Perform list. And that last year’s punter- who the team has all but admitted won’t be sticking around long because there’s a different punter waiting in the wings- has been learning how to kick field goals and extra points for the first time this preseason.

Now, just a couple days before the club’s third preseason game, Dallas is reportedly bringing in another kicker.

Yep, all set there.

NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero explained Tuesday that the Cowboys have scheduled a workout with free agent Lirim Hajrullahu. The 31-year-old is a Canadian Football League veteran, having played for three squads from 2014 to 2020. He was named a CFL All-Star twice.

The Carolina Panthers signed him to a reserve/future contract earlier this year, but waived him soon after. Prior to that, Hajrullahu spent the 2020 offseason with the Rams, where he just missed overlapping with special teams guru John Fassel, now the coordinator in Dallas.

Fassel has expressed confidence that kicker Greg Zuerlein will be fully ready for the start of the regular season following offseason back surgery. Hunter Niswander, the young punter who took over for an injured Chris Jones last year- and then kept the job- has been handling all kicking duties during training camp. The club, though, has made it clear that they expect Bryan Anger, signed in April, to be their punter in 2021, and that Niswander was being allowed to learn kicking in camp to help him to build resume tape.

While Niswander is seen as the odd man out, the Hajrullahu workout does raise questions about the team’s kicking specialists heading into the season. They appear to have no kickers they have full confidence in for Saturday’s game.

Clarence Hill Jr. of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram tweeted Tuesday that “there has been no setback” with Zuerlein, citing a source.

Zuerlein took warmup kicks prior to last week’s preseason tilt in Arizona; Anger did the holding for those and was active for the game, punting once. Niswander handled kicks, as he did in the Hall of Fame Game. He is 4-of-6 on field goal attempts with one PAT conversion this preseason.

With Cowboys coach Mike McCarthy putting more importance on the team’s third exhibition game, perhaps the Niswander Kicking Experiment has reached its end. Or possibly Zuerlein isn’t as close to a return as the team would like. Or maybe Fassel wants to help another promising leg (who has ties to his friends on the Los Angeles staff) build some tape himself. Or perhaps he’s just staying abreast of current options, as he- and special teams coordinators in general- are prone to do.

Or maybe the kicker who fled his native war-torn Kosovo as a boy and has now found his way to America’s Team is just too good a Hard Knocks story to pass up. Even if it is just for a couple weeks.

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Cowboys workout 3 kickers but don’t replace Maher, long snapper pouts

The Dallas Cowboys have a kicking problem. They’ve had it for the last two seasons, but finally, after seeing Brett Maher miss two kicks that would have changed the context of their embarrassing Thanksgiving loss, they are looking to do something …

The Dallas Cowboys have a kicking problem. They’ve had it for the last two seasons, but finally, after seeing Brett Maher miss two kicks that would have changed the context of their embarrassing  Thanksgiving loss, they are looking to do something about it.

On Sunday, while the rest of the league played their Week 13 games, Dallas worked out three kickers.

Maher has under a 68% make percentage on the season after Sunday’s two misses. If he had made both kicks, Dallas’ late touchdown with four minutes remaining would have moved them within one score, allowing the team to kick the ball downfield instead of going for an onside kick.

Cowboys Wire ran an article on Friday  looking at a handful of kickers with NFL experience, plus Sergio Castillo, who can work out for teams but can’t sign until after the season per CFL rules.

In the end though, Dallas decided to move forward with Maher for Thursday’s road game against the Chicago Bears.

The workouts, of course, focused on place kicks, which means the rest of the unit had to participate as long-time long snapper L.P. Ladouceur and punter-holder Chris Jones worked with the workout warriors.

Ladouceur spoke up about the issues he felt arose from having to work with potential replacements for his friend, Maher.

The Cowboys (6-6) are still atop the NFC East for the time being, as they hold the tiebreaker over the Philadelphia Eagles (5-6) by virtue of their big win earlier in the season. The two teams meet again in Week 16.

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