The Dallas Cowboys could be an ideal landing spot for a familiar name.
As suggested by The Cowboys Wire’s Reid Hanson, the “answer” to Dallas’ kicker issues may be former Green Bay Packers veteran Mason Crosby. Crosby remains a free agent after spending all 16 years of his career with the Packers. Hanson points out that Crosby is a kicker that head coach Mike McCarthy knows well from their time in Green Bay. McCarthy coached Crosby for the first 12 years of his career from 2007 until 2018.
“Mason Crosby is a free agent kicker Cowboys head coach Mike McCarthy knows well,” writes Hanson. “Joining Green Bay in 2007, Crosby was with McCarthy every step of the way. At age 38, Crosby’s time with the Packers has likely come to an end and the Lubbock native waits for his phone to ring for his next NFL opportunity.”
Cowboys Could Sign Mason Crosby Due to His Consistency
The Packers drafted Crosby’s replacement, Anders Carlson, in the sixth round after he was named a Second-Team All-American during his career at the University of Auburn. In other words, it’s not likely Crosby returns as long as Carlson remains healthy.
As far as the Cowboys are concerned, they currently only have Tristan Vizcaino on the roster. Vizcaino has never served as a full-time kicker and has just 12 field goal attempts in 10 career games.
Hanson mentions that while Crosby isn’t the “booming” kicker that former Cowboys kicker Brett Maher was, he is consistent from short range.
“Crosby isn’t the booming kicker Maher was for the Cowboys in 2022 but he’s consistent from short and hasn’t missed a regular season FG under 30 yards since 2011,” writes Hanson. “He only missed one kick under 50 yards in 2022 so he’s in many ways the polar opposite from what Dallas had in Maher in 2022.”
The 38-year-old Crosby went 25-of-29 (86.2%) on field goal attempts and 37-of-39 on extra point attempts (94.9%) last season. By comparison, Maher actually kicked a higher field goal percentage — 29-of-32 attempts for a 90.6% — with a slightly lower extra point attempt percentage at 94.3%.
Mason Crosby Plans on Playing During 2023 Season
Although Crosby has played 16 years and remains a free agent, he plans on playing during the 2023 season.
Via a transcription from Rob Reischel of Forbes:
“I’m getting myself ready for training camp and feeling good,” Crosby told ESPN Wisconsin. “I’m excited for what this next opportunity holds and we’ll see what happens.”
As teams prepare for training camp, there aren’t many veteran kicker options on the free agency market. In fact, outside of Crosby, Ryan Succop and Robbie Gould are probably the most proven kickers available.
In fact, Cowboys special teams coach John Fassel mentioned all three of the aforementioned kickers as possible options back in May.
“There’s veterans on the street right now – let’s face it, there’s Mason (Crosby), there’s Robbie (Gould), there’s (Ryan) Succop,” said Fassel. “There’s a lot of guys that have performed in the NFL, and you weigh that against everything else. There’s really no secrets of who’s available. The good thing for us at the kicker spot is just being patient and deciding who that second guy is we’re going to bring in, whether it’s now or training camp.”
If the Cowboys are going to bring in a second kicker to compete with Vizcaino, it’s hard to argue against signing Crosby.
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Cowboys Have Chance to Add Ex-Super Bowl Champion Veteran: Analyst