Nick Rose

Cowboys Working Out Kickers Monday

It looks like Dallas is about to make their kicking change, and they could be down to a couple of finalists. The Cowboys will workout Kai Forbath, Nick Rose, and Tristan Vizcaino on Monday, sources told Calvin Watkins of the Dallas Morning News (Twitter links).

Brett Maher had already been on thin ice, and then he missed another crucial kick during Dallas’ loss to the Bears. A couple of days ago following the Cowboys’ latest embarrassing defeat on Thursday Night Football, head coach Jason Garrett seemed to heavily indicate that they were going to make a change. “Obviously, we have to do a close evaluation of it,” Garrett said. “We brought three kickers in earlier in the week. We decided to give Brett an opportunity this week. It didn’t work out. So we have to take a real close, hard look at that.”

Garrett was referring to the kicker workout the Cowboys held last week, which included Vizcaino and Roose. They opted not to sign anyone and give Maher one more week to prove himself, but apparently liked what they saw from those two. Vizcaino is a Washington product who has never kicked in the NFL, and he made only 12 kicks during his college career. Rose has had brief stints with the Chargers and Redskins.

Forbath, the former Redskins and Vikings kicker, resurfaced briefly with the Patriots last week. He was only used as a one-game fill-in after Nick Folk was sidelined by an appendectomy. He missed an extra point during his one game with New England. Maher surprisingly beat out longtime kicker Dan Bailey last offseason and had a solid rookie campaign with Dallas, but it looks like his time has ran out. Expect word of a signing early this week.

Cowboys To Try Out Kickers

We heard just two days ago that the Cowboys would not be moving on from sophomore kicker Brett Maher, but the team is at least putting Maher on notice. As Clarence Hill Jr. of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram tweets, Dallas is bringing in three kickers for a workout today.

The Cowboys suffered an ugly loss to the Bills on Thanksgiving, and while there was plenty of blame to go around, Maher missed two field goals, which triggered speculation that Dallas could look for a replacement. Indeed, Maher has struggled to a 67.9% success rate on field goal attempts in 2019, which puts him among the league’s most inaccurate kickers.

That mark is well below the 80.6% success rate he posted in his rookie campaign in 2018, and while he is perfect on PATS this year, his accuracy on medium- to long-range kicks leaves much to be desired. Maher has connected on just five of 12 attempts from 40 yards or more.

Per Michael Gehlken of the Dallas Morning News, the Cowboys are working out Austin MacGinnis, Nick Rose, and Tristan Vizcaino (Twitter link). Of those three, only Rose has any regular season NFL experience.

It’s unclear if the Cowboys would consider cutting Maher if they are impressed by one of the tryout players, but they are at least trying to spur Maher into a quick turnaround.

NFL Workout Updates: 11/27/19

Here is the latest from the workout circuit on Wednesday:

Baltimore Ravens

Cleveland Browns

Miami Dolphins

San Francisco 49ers

Tennessee Titans

Washington

NFL Workout Notes: 10/8/19

Here are today’s workout updates. There are a number of notable names on this list, so pay attention!

Arizona Cardinals

Baltimore Ravens

Buffalo Bills

Carolina Panthers

Cleveland Browns

Denver Broncos

Detroit Lions

Green Bay Packers

Houston Texans

Indianapolis Colts

Jacksonville Jaguars

Los Angeles Chargers

New England Patriots

Oakland Raiders

Philadelphia Eagles

Seattle Seahawks

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Tennessee Titans

Washington Redskins

Bears To Workout Pair Of AAF Kickers

Chicago is leaving no stone unturned in their search to replace Cody Parkey. Parkey, of course, struggled all of last season and missed the last-second kick in the playoffs that would’ve sent the Bears through to the second round.

The Bears signed former Tulsa kicker Redford Jones after a group tryout in January, but they aren’t going to just hand the job. Chicago is hosting a pair of kickers just released from their AAF contracts when the league folded, sources told Brad Briggs of The Chicago Tribune. Younghoe Koo and Nick Rose will be brought in for auditions Wednesday.

Briggs adds that it’s “believed they might bring in at least one additional kicker that day,” and Briggs floats fellow AAF alum Elliott Fry as a likely option. Both Koo and Rose have seen regular season action, and both have spent time with the Chargers. Koo entered the 2017 season as Los Angeles’ starting kicker, but was replaced after a few missed clutch kicks early in the season.

Koo is talented though, and he beat out Josh Lambo with the Chargers for a reason. If he can get things sorted out mentally he has the potential to be a serviceable kicker. Rose has spent time with the Redskins and Chargers, and is 11/14 on field goals in his career. Kicker is clearly a priority for the Bears in 2019.

Chargers Waive K Nick Rose

The Chargers will be venturing into the offseason with one less kicker. Following the team’s divisional-round loss in New England, Nick Rose received his walking papers.

Los Angeles waived Rose days after signing him. Rose played in two games for the Bolts last season and was brought in last week for kickoff purposes. Only one of his three kickoffs against the Patriots reached the end zone.

The Bolts signed Canadian Football League import Ty Long to a reserve/futures deal on Monday.

Rose kicked in eight games for the 2017 Redskins, doing so as Dustin Hopkins‘ injury replacement, before landing with a Bolts team that had experienced rampant trouble at kicker. But with Michael Badgley having helped stabilize the position, the Chargers waived Rose.

Badgley kicked in 12 Chargers games, counting the playoffs, and may have the inside track on keeping the job going into the 2019 season. But only nine of his 60 kickoffs produced touchbacks this season, an NFL-low figure, so the former Miami Hurricane may not have an open-and-shut case to return just yet.

Chargers Sign K Nick Rose

The Chargers are signing kicker Nick Rose ahead of their upcoming Divisional Round matchup against the Patriots, tweets Adam Schefter of ESPN.com. Rose will handle kickoffs while incumbent kicker Michael Badgley will continue to manage field goals and extra points.

Badgley has been immensely successful on field goals, as he ranks fifth in the NFL with a 93.8% conversion rate. Additionally, he’s only missed a single extra point on 28 attempts. However, as Eric D. Williams of ESPN.com notes, Badgley has turned only nine of his 54 kickoffs into touchbacks, which translates to an NFL-worst 16.7% touchback rate.

Badgley’s problem on kickoffs could lead to issues against the Patriots, who deploy former All-Pro special teamer Cordarrelle Patterson on kick returns. This season, Patterson averaged 28.8 yards per kick return (tied for fifth in the league), while New England as a whole ranked fifth in Football Outsiders‘ kick return metric.

Rose, 24, split time between the Chargers and Redskins in 2017, appearing in 10 total games. During that time, he made 11-of-14 field goal attempts while converting 23-of-26 extra points. Most recently, Rose signed on to play for the San Antonio Commanders of the Alliance of American Football, which debuts in the spring.

Texans Finalize 53-Man Roster

With cuts due this afternoon, the Texans made theirs official. This includes all-time punter great Shane Lechler, which surfaced on Friday.

The Texans also released Joe Webb, thinning out their quarterback room to just Deshaun Watson and Brandon Weeden.

Houston will begin its season without the services of backup running back D’Onta Foreman as well. Still recovering from his season-ending injury sustained in November of last year, Foreman will begin the season on the Texans’ Reserve/PUP list. He won’t be eligible to play until after Week 6.

As for the rest of Houston’s Saturday roster decisions, here’s who will not appear on the 53-man group to start the season:

Released:

Waived:

Waived with an injury designation:

Released with injury settlements

Placed on Reserve/Non-Football Illness list

Texans Cut WR Braxton Miller

The Texans cut a boatload of players on Friday, allowing them to inch closer to the 53-man max. Here’s the rundown, with all links going to Twitter unless noted otherwise:

Miller is the biggest name of the bunch, but his release does not come as a huge surprise. The former third-round pick out of Ohio State has posted a grand total of 34 catches for 261 yards and two scores over the last two years, and he failed to really stand out in the preseason.

Will Fuller, Bruce Ellington and fourth-round pick Keke Coutee seem likely to make the cut behind star receiver DeAndre Hopkins, and it remains to be seen whether Houston will carry five or six receivers in total.

Texans To Sign Kicker Nick Rose

After working him out earlier today, the Texans are signing kicker Nick Rose a source told Aaron Wilson of The Houston Chronicle (Twitter link). 

The Texans’ kicker from last season, Ka’imi Fairbairn, is currently sidelined with a minor injury, Wilson reported earlier today. It’s unclear whether Rose is just being brought in as a short-term placeholder or to potentially take over starting kicking duties.

Rose spent time with both the Redskins and Chargers last year. He was the Redskins’ kicker for eight weeks last season, converting 10 of 11 field goal tries and going 18 for 20 on extra points. After being let go by the Redskins, he was picked up by the Chargers for the final two games of the season. He went one for three on field goals during his brief stay in Los Angeles.

Rose was cut by the Chargers in April, and hasn’t garnered much interest since. He worked out for the Buccaneers last week, but that’s been it. If a team with a kicking situation as dire as the Chargers’ was willing to give up on Rose so easily that’s not a good sign, but it wouldn’t be shocking to see him push Fairbairn for the starting job.