The Dallas Cowboys have released veteran kicker Dan Bailey, the second-most accurate kicker in NFL history, after seven seasons with the team, per Todd Archer of ESPN.
Brett Maher, who has never kicked in a regular-season game, will now take over as the Cowboys' new placekicker following Bailey's departure. The 28-year-old made four of his five field goal attempts in preseason, including a 57-yarder in Thursday's preseason finale against the Houston Texans.
Bailey’s release comes on the heels of the worst season of his career in 2017. He missed four games because of a groin injury and connected on 15 of 20 field goal tries. He also missed the first two extra points of his career. All of his misses came after he suffered his injury.
Bailey's down year dropped his field goal percentage down to 88.1% from his previous mark of 89.5%. He's currently second on the all-time field goal accuracy list behind Baltimore Ravens kicker Justin Tucker.
Article Continues BelowBy cutting Bailey, the Cowboys will save $3.4 million against the cap this year.
As for Maher, this will be the first time he’s ever made it to a 53-man NFL roster. After going undrafted in 2013, he spent time in offseason and/or practice squads with the Jets and Cowboys in 2013 and was also cut by the Cleveland Browns in 2017.
Maher has spent the past few seasons playing in the Canadian Football League. In 2016, he made 41 of 50 field goal attempts for the Hamilton Tiger Cats. He signed for the Cowboys in April after sitting out the entire 2017 season.