Dallas is reportedly looking at punters, to replace or backup rookie Hunter Niswander, who filled in for the injured Chris Jones on Sunday.
The Cowboys’ special teams squad was supposed to be one of the areas of biggest improvement in 2020. The hiring of coordinator John “Bones” Fassel signaled a dramatic shift in philosophy, to be sure. Taking more chances and being more aggressive in in-game situations looked to be the path that Dallas would take in the game’s so-called “third phase.”
Some rolls of the dice have come up embarrassingly empty, such as the ill-advised and horribly-executed fake-punt pass attempt against Atlanta in Week 2. Some managed to work thanks to sheer dumb luck; see the “watermelon” onside kick to win that same game. Other examples of special teams trickery have come off looking like pure genius, like last Sunday’s punt return that saw Cedrick Wilson lob a lateral pass across the field to C.J. Goodwin, who had broken away from the Steelers’ kick coverage… by faking a hamstring pull.
It’s clearly a new day in Dallas as far as special teams goes. To that end, the team reportedly worked out two free agent punters on Wednesday as they explore every advantage.
According to Michael Gehlken of The Dallas Morning News, the coaching staff brought in veterans Marquette King and Colton Schmidt as the club looks at the rest of the season without starter Chris Jones.
Jones underwent core muscle surgery last week to repair a nagging sports hernia and could miss the remainder of the 2020 campaign. If he does, he will finish the season with a 42.6-yard average, a total that ties the second-lowest output of his ten seasons with the Cowboys.
Rookie punter Hunter Niswander took over for Jones this past week; his two punts against Pittsburgh were of 39 and 40 yards. While that’s an admittedly small sample size, his 39.5-yard average places him dead last in the league in punting yardage in 2020.
But Fassel cautioned against reading too much into the possible addition of another punter. The edge that the Cowboys gain by potentially signing Schmidt or King (or another punter else entirely) may simply be peace-of-mind depth in this unpredictable season.
“I was really happy with Hunter,” Fassel told reporters during a virtual press conference this week. “I think most people [in] the second half of the season are going to have two punters, or at least a backup option at the kicker or punter, at least on the practice squad. In case something happens, you have a next guy who is available who’s already gone through the COVID testing protocol. I believe what we’re going to do is just make sure, with Hunter as our guy, just have somebody else just in case for COVID reasons more so than for performance reasons.”
Still, Niswander’s 39.5-yard average has to get better in a sport where a few yards of field position can mean the difference between a much-needed win… and another tough loss.
“Hunter knows he’s got to perform, and I really believe he will. But I think the extra guy we’ll bring in to be on our practice squad will be purely for just having an emergency option, should something happen.”
Out of UC-Davis, Schmidt started his NFL career in 2013. He did training camp stints in San Francisco, Cleveland, and San Francisco a second time before landing in Buffalo in 2014. Over 67 games with the Bills, Schmidt punted 338 times and logged a 44-yard average. Released in 2018, Schmidt moved on to the AAF’s Birmingham Iron and earned a special teams player of the week award before the league folded. Schmidt had been selected by the XFL’s Los Angeles team before that endeavor went under in April.
King’s name is perhaps more recognizable to NFL fans. The Fort Valley State product spent six seasons with the Raiders starting in 2012, led the league in punting yards in 2014, and was a second-team All-Pro in 2016. In 2018, he played with Denver, but appeared in just four games before a thigh injury led to his release. He, too, sought refuge in the XFL and was to play for the St. Louis Battlehawks. King has a 46.7-yard punting average over his career, a number that would place him 17th among current active NFL punters in 2020.
Perhaps most intriguing for Fassel’s creative side, King was originally recruited to college as a wide receiver. Unable to find playing time catching passes, he switched to punting only when his coach offered it as a last-ditch way to salvage his scholarship there.
Johnny Hekker practically made a career passing the ball on fake punt plays during Fassel’s time with the Rams. Could Bones now have an eye toward maybe drawing up some new gadgetry that would involve a punter like King catching passes from someone like Cedrick Wilson?
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