The Dallas Cowboys continued a busy offseason on Friday with yet another free agent signing. This time, the front office has locked in a dependable placekicker for the foreseeable future. Former Los Angeles Rams kicker Greg Zuerlein is reportedly taking his talents to Texas.
NFL.com ‘s Mike Garafolo reported on Twitter that the deal between the two sides is a three-year contract worth around $7.5 million. While that isn’t an insane amount of money, it’s a healthy contract for a team that came into the 2020 offseason worried about cap space.
The Cowboys have been working overtime to reshape their roster after yet another disappointing season in 2019. It was disappointing enough that Dallas fired longtime head coach Jason Garrett and hired former Green Bay Packers head man Mike McCarthy.
Some of the first moves Dallas made this offseason included locking in star wide receiver Amari Cooper to a long-term deal and franchise-tagging quarterback Dak Prescott. Prescott’s signing was geared toward making sure the team could continue to talk to him about a longer-term offer.
One smaller offensive move also came earlier this week. Dallas signed journeyman tight end Blake Bell . He isn’t considered a true replacement for Jason Witten but he is someone who will likely be looked at mainly for blocking duties.
After the offensive moves were finished — at least for now — the Cowboys turned to the other side of the field and signed Dontari Poe to man the defensive line. Now the team has turned to its special teams unit after adding Zuerlein.
The kicker had played his entire career with the Rams before signing the new contract. He started out with the St. Louis Rams and then moved along with the team to Los Angeles. Over the course of his eight years in the league, he’s posted an 82 percent accuracy rate.
The Cowboys have had their issues with kickers and making field goals over the last few years. They started the year with Brett Maher as their placekicker but he was cut late in the season after struggling mightily.
The front office then signed Kai Forbath to take over the job and he was generally successful in that role. Interestingly enough, Forbath is still on the Cowboys, so it appears there’s going to be a bit of a competition for the kicking job. That would seem to indicate at least some of Zuerlein’s three-year deal is not guaranteed. What is clear is that Dallas is working quickly to reshape the roster, and the former Rams special-teamer is the latest piece.
