Adding competition to the kicker room was a good move by the Cowboys front office

The kicking situation has been a pretty big issue for the Cowboys over the last few years. Ever since the Dan Bailey tenure ended, finding a consistent long-term kicker has been easier said than done for the Cowboys.

The Greg Zuerlein experience was a wild ride in the two seasons he spent with the Cowboys, Brett Maher was far from the answer to replace Dan Bailey, and Kai Forbath saw a short stint in Dallas, but did not stick around for long even though he was pretty consistent.

The Cowboys did not bring in any free agents kickers this offseason, like many expected, after moving on from Greg Zuerlein after two rather disappointing years in Dallas. They also chose to not draft one of the bigger name kickers in the 2022 NFL Draft, and instead stayed patient and elected to sign Texas Tech kicker Jonathan Garibay after the draft as an undrafted free agent.

Garibay was one of the more consistent kickers in the 2022 NFL Draft class, but for a team that relies on their kicker a ton, putting all your eggs in the basket of a college undrafted free agent is a big-risk. That’s why adding kicker Lirim Hajrullahu before heading off to training camp was an excellent move by the Cowboys front office. Hajrullahu has spent time with the Cowboys before, and while he doesn’t have a ton of NFL kicking experience, he has plenty of experience kicking in the CFL. He should provide decent competition for the Garibay entering his first training camp.

While bringing in the camp competition was wise, they need to treat this as a real competition. Whoever kicks the best in camp and preseason should be given the job. There’s no draft capitol invested in any of these guys, and there’s no money tied up. While Garibay is likely the favorite to win the job, Hajrullahu should be given every opportunity to win it this offseason.