Dallas Cowboys kicker Dan Bailey injured his groin and is expected to be out for several weeks. He had to leave the game against the San Francisco 49ers in the second quarter, which the Cowboys won by 30 points. He was replaced by safety Jeff Heath, who scored 2/3 extra points.
However, Heath cannot do this in the weeks to come, so Dallas is looking for someone to replace him. Cowboys vice president Stephen Jones said: “We’re looking at a few guys. It’s probably not going to be Dan Bailey, unfortunately. But we are going to have to look at signing a kicker because this could be more than a week at a time. So, we’ll have to look at the guys that we obviously think will do the best job for us. You’ve got to applaud Jeff Heath for his efforts yesterday that a safety could come in like that and make some extra points and have a few nice kickoffs. Certainly nice to have him on the roster. But we will, probably 99 percent chance, be signing a kicker this week. We just don’t know who yet.”
Three players will be brought for tryouts – Sam Irwin Hill, who was with the Cowboys during the training camp and preseason, but he was released, Mike Nugent and Jason Myers. However, this list is not final. Luckily for Dallas, Heath was able to play as the kicker, and he is one of the rare players at his position who can do such a thing.
“You’re exactly right. That’s rare. Most of the time it’s the punter who is the backup kicker. But in this case, we’re fortunate that Jeff feels pretty good about his kicking ability,” Jones said. “Coach Rich Bisaccia really likes him. And he’s able to go in there and do some solid work for us if something does happen to our kicker. At the same time, leave the rest of the guys doing what they do in particular letting [Chris] Jones do the holding, which is certainly something that he’s really good at. And you like to change as few parts as possible when you have an injury.”
Whoever comes will have a hard time replacing Bailey, who is one of the best kickers in the league. Before his injury, against the 49ers Bailey made two extra points, which helped him reach 800 career points. With this amazing result, Bailey is third all-time in Cowboys history. Dallas is looking for someone who will replace him as they meet with the Washington Redskins next week.
