FRISCO, Texas — With Dan Bailey expected to miss some with a groin injury, the Dallas Cowboys will sign veteran kicker Mike Nugent after he won a competition with Jason Myers and Sam Irwin-Hill on Tuesday.
Coach Jason Garrett would not put a timetable on Bailey’s return but said he would miss “at least a couple of weeks” with the injury that occurred while warming up on the sidelines during a drive. The Cowboys had safety Jeff Heath take over the kicking duties and he made two of three point-after attempts.
Nugent, 34, lost a training-camp competition with Aldrick Rosas to be the New York Giants kicker this summer. In his career with the Cincinnati Bengals, Arizona Cardinals, Tampa Bay Buccaneers and New York Jets, he has made 236 of 292 career field goal attempts.
“You want a guy who is reliable. It’s really important at that position you have a guy you can trust and count on. You want that throughout your whole team at every position but that’s a very valuable position,” Jason Garrett said on Monday. “You’re going to put the fortunes of your team in that guy’s hands, or on his foot, and you want a guy you can trust and rely on. Experience matters, but you don’t want to make it all about that. You want to choose the best guy. But reliability and how much you can trust them is certainly a big factor.”
Bailey is the most accurate kicker in NFL history, making 178 of 198 field goal attempts in his career. He had not missed a game since signing with the Cowboys as an undrafted free agent in 2011 — until now.
Three of the Cowboys’ next four games will be in climate-controlled stadiums with retractable roofs (two at AT&T Stadium and one at Atlanta’s Mercedes Benz Stadium), which make for easier kicking conditions. The Cowboys play at FedEx Field Sunday against the Washington Redskins.
To make room for Nugent on the roster, the Dallas Cowboys waived defensive end Damontre Moore. Moore was inactive last week. In three games coaches credited him with seven tackles and four quarterback hurries.
