Why The Cowboys Cut Damontre Moore For Mike Nugent

The Dallas Cowboys announced Tuesday morning that they will be cutting veteran defensive end Damontre Moore to make room for kicker Mike Nugent.

Nugent was picked up after Dan Bailey suffered a groin injury during Sunday’s game against the 49ers. This comes as a huge blow as Ian Rapoport reported Bailey will miss several weeks.

To make room on the 53-man roster, many people assumed the sacrificial cut would be QB Kellen Moore, so why did the Cowboys office decide to cut Damontre instead?

Coach Jason Garrett adamantly stated that the release of Moore had nothing to do with off-the-field behavior, according to Mike Fisher. The recent behavior Garrett is referring to is the altercation Moore was involved in on Thursday night at a Dallas club. Details about the incident are unclear, but Garrett alluded that the team believes he is free of fault.

Garrett says, with straight face, that #Cowboys release of Damontre Moore has nothing to do w off-the-field behavior. @1053thefan

— mike fisher ✭ (@fishsports) October 25, 2017

The inevitable question has been raised about whether the decision had anything to do with Moore’s display of solidarity after the national anthem on October 8 at AT&T Stadium. Moore and David Irving both raised their fists in support of Kaepernick’s protest against injustice. Although owner Jerry Jones has admitted he would not tolerate any disrespect toward the American flag, he also chose to not punish either of the players.

Ultimately, it came down to both on and off the field performance. One way to look at this situation is that if Moore had been more productive for the team, he might still have a job even after his recent behavioral incident. Moore is credited with seven tackles and four hurries during his time with the Cowboys.

The fact of the matter is that the Cowboys were in need of an experienced kicker because unfortunately Jeff Heath has other football business to take care of.

The Cowboys hope that veteran Mike Nugent will be the ideal stand-in kicker to replace Bailey. Nugent has spent most of his career (seven seasons) with the Cincinnati Bengals and has “a career 80.0 field goal rate in stints with the Bengals, Cardinals, Buccaneers and Jets.”

The Cowboys will travel to FedeExField, Maryland on Sunday where Nugent will make his Cowboys debut against the Washington Redskins.