If Roger Goodell – or any of his replacements – steps up to the podium in Detroit later this week and announces the Cowboys have drafted a tight end, kicker, or a punter…
Seriously, I expect all of you to join me at The Star with lit torches and sharpened pitchforks in hand.
The one area Dallas is completely locked in at is special teams. None of their seven picks should go in this direction.
The Cowboys lucked – honestly, there’s no other word for it – into landing their kicker for the next decade.
Brandon Aubrey’s record-setting season in 2023 should all but cement his place on the roster through the 2035 season.
Punter Bryan Anger will turn 36 during the 2024 season. But he should have at least two or three more seasons in his leg.
He’s also been a rock-solid holder – especially for Aubrey last year.
They shouldn’t need to go shopping for a punter for a while.
The Cowboys just signed up long snapper Trent Sieg for another year. He’ll turn 29 next month and likely will be in Dallas for the foreseeable future.
KaVontae Turpin looks to have the kickoff and punt return duties locked down.
A restricted free agent after this season, the 28-year old will likely be retained – especially if he has a standout year with the new kickoff rules in place.
In short, the Special Teams room in Dallas is the most stable room in the building for the short and the long term.
But keep the torches and pitchforks handy. We are talking Jerry Jones here.
The Top Kickers
A couple of years back I was begging and pleading for the Cowboys to draft Cameron Dicker in the seventh round.
They didn’t. He signed as an undrafted free agent and eventually landed with the Los Angeles Chargers.
Barring a breakout of terminal stupidity in Los Angeles, he’ll be a Charger for some time to come as a younger Justin Tucker.
In this year’s draft I won’t be surprised to see all seven rounds pass without a kicker or punter being taken.
None of the prospects stand out to me. At best, one might go in the sixth or seventh round.
Alabama’s Will Reichard is ranked by most draft experts as the top kicking prospect this year.
He was 22-of-25 in field goals in 2023 and does have a strong leg.
While he went 5-for-5 in kicks over 50 yards he stumbled down the stretch in the 40-49 yards range.
After hitting his first six kicks between 40-49, he missed three of his last four. A cause of concern at the pro level.
See Maher, Brett.
Stanford’s Joshua Karty could also be a late round surprise.
He hit 23 of his 27 attempts in 2023. Karty made all seven of his kicks in the 40-49 range but was just 4-of-7 at 50 yards or more.
Jonah Dalmas out of Boise State might be a seventh round pick at best, but is more likely to be signed as an undrafted free agent.
He had a long of 56 yards in 2023 and hit all six of his kicks from 40-49 yards.
The Top Punters
I had to google to see how many times a punter was drafted in the early rounds in the history of the NFL Draft.
There weren’t that many. The one standout was Ray Guy back in 1973.
Ray Guy is the only punter in the Hall of Fame.
There are no Ray Guys in this year’s punting draft prospects.
There is probably only one punter who will be drafted this year. The rest are likely seventh-rounders at best and more likely to be undrafted free agents signings when the dust settles.
Arizona’s Kyle Ostendorp had a career-long punt of 71 yards back in 2021.
He averaged just 42.4 yards a punt in 2023 after averaging 49.2 in 2021 and 45.5 in 2022. So there may be some questions about his leg strength.
Despite all that he remains the cream of an otherwise thin crop of punters.