Is Dan Bailey The Best Kicker Ever?

I want to take a second and use this post to give a major shout out to Dallas Cowboys injured kicker Dan Bailey. In case you’ve been living under a rock, Bailey, who has been our kicker for seven years, injured his groin this past Sunday during warm-ups in San Francisco and will be out a couple of games. Cowboys cut defensive end Damontre Moore in order to make room for veteran kicker Mike Nugent.

The job of kicker isn’t a glorious one. There aren’t any touchdowns, sacks, or interceptions; well if there is an interception, it usually isn’t good news for the kicker. When a team has a great kicker, an extra point or a field goal doesn’t cause any anxiety, but if the stats aren’t there,  you can bet that some coaches would rather go for it on 4th down.

Bailey grew up in Oklahoma and played at OSU. He senior year, he was awarded the Lou Groza Award which is given to the best placekicker in college football. At the end of his collegiate career, he surpassed Heisman trophy winner Barry Sanders’ all time scoring record with the most career points at 370 (Sanders had 330).

Dallas signed Bailey in 2011 as an undrafted free agent. That season he helped to win over the Redskins and tied a rookie record by converting six field goals accounting for all of Dallas’ points that game (18-16). At the end of the season, he had completed 86.5% of field goals, which was the second highest percentage for a rookie and he was selected to the Pro Football Writers Association’s All-Rookie Team. Cowboys resigned Bailey in 2014 to a seven year contract worth a reported $22.5 million dollars. In that year he became the most accurate kicker in NFL history with a minimum of 100 attempts. In 2015, he was selected to the Pro Bowl after completing a career high 93.8% of field goal attempts.

Sometimes fans take clutch kickers for granted, and I wanted to shine a light on how appreciative we should be to Bailey for his commitment to the team and talent he has shown. Get well Bailey and rest up, we’re going to need you the rest of the season.