Dallas Cowboys: 3 Pending free agents with ties to new coaching staff
By Randy Gurzi
3. Mason Crosby, Kicker
One person who many Cowboys fans don’t like is Mason Crosby. The veteran kicker has nailed some clutch kicks against Dallas, including the 2016 NFL Playoffs when he knocked in the game-winner after Jared Cooks‘ crazy reception. That doesn’t mean they wouldn’t learn to love him should he join the team.
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A sixth-round pick out of Colorado in 2007, Crosby was McCarthy’s kicker for all but one season of his coaching career in Green Bay. In fact, McCarthy trusted him so much that he stuck with Crosby even when things got tough for the kicker.
In 2012, he struggled mightily as he was food on just 63.6 percent of his kicks. He also had a couple of rough patches near the end of McCarthy’s tenure where he missed a couple of big kicks for them.
The team was rewarded for their faith as Crosby just continued to rebound. And this season, he was on fire knocking in 22-of-24 kicks, which was the best season in his career.
Now, with his former coach in Dallas, perhaps he could repay the coach who believed in him by fixing the Cowboys kicking woes. Dallas had a lot of problems in the kicking game the past two seasons as they decided to cut Dan Bailey and the move backfired as Brett Maher was incredibly inconsistent.
They did improve down the stretch as Kai Forbath was 10-10 on both field goals and extra points in the last three games of the season. While he could be retained, it’s hard to argue against Crosby being the better option.