Dallas Cowboys finally dump shaky kicker Brett Maher, sign Kai Forbath
Brett Maher has missed his last kick for the Dallas Cowboys.
The kicker was waived on Monday and the team signed veteran kicker Kai Forbath.
Maher has missed 10 field goals this season, the most in a season by an NFL kicker in the past four seasons.
Maher missed a 42-yard field-goal attempt in the second quarter Thursday night against the Chicago Bears, his 10th miss this season. That’s more than any other kicker in each of the past four seasons.
The Cowboys worked out three kickers last week after Maher missed twice against the Buffalo Bills. They worked out kickers again after Maher missed a field goal Thursday in the loss to the Chicago Bears.
Forbath played in one game for the Patriots this season, making his lone attempt from 23 yards, but he was 1 of 2 on extra-point attempts. He made 32 of 38 field-goal attempts for the Vikings in 2017.
Forbath has made 85.8% of his kicks (121 of 141) in a nine-year career with five teams.
“I feel comfortable coming here after getting that one game in,” Forbath said of the brief stint with the Patriots. “I’m here to be consistent and make kicks when they need me to. You make kicks, you stay around.”
Maher, who earlier this season became the first kicker in the history of the NFL to make at least three field goals from at least 60 yards, has struggled to make more moderate attempts.
Maher connected on just 1 of 5 attempts of 40-49 yards, which made him one of three kickers in the past 20 years to connect on 20% or worse of those kicks.
Forbath was among three kickers, including Tristan Vizcaino and Nick Rose, worked out by the Cowboys on Monday and won the contest.
“I got through the hard part,” Forbath said. “Now just make some kicks.”
Vizcaino and Roso, in addition to Austin MacGinnis, also worked out for the Cowboys last week after Maher missed two kicks, including a 35-yarder, in a loss to the Buffalo Bills on Thanksgiving Day.
But the Cowboys opted to stick with Maher and give him one more shot.
He rewarded their trust by missing the 42-yard attempt against the Bears that would have tied the score at 10. The Cowboys never recovered and it sealed his fate.
Maher was 19-of-29 on field goals in 2019 after making 29 of 36 kicks in 2018 when he won the job by shockingly unseating then-incumbent Dan Bailey in training camp.
Forbath originally signed with the Cowboys as an undrafted free agent in 2011 but was slowed by an injury, allowing Bailey to win the job as a rookie and stay on as Cowboys kicker until Maher showed up last season.
Now, Forbath is back where he originally started.
Technically this was my first team,” Forbath said. “I was hurt that year. Kind of crazy how things work out. I’m back here now.”
This story was originally published December 9, 2019 at 12:40 PM.
