The original idea regarding the kicking competition? Let’s see ‘em under the heat.
Apparently, though, the heat of Oxnard is hot enough, as the Dallas Cowboys are cutting Tristan Vizcaino.
That means soccer star Brandon Aubrey the only kicker. For now.
"Going through the evaluation process, we felt this was an opportunity to give Brandon the majority of the reps," Cowboys coach Mike McCarthy said on Monday as the move was made. "As far as another kicker, yeah we're always open for that.”
As well they should be. The “competition experiment” between Vizcaino vs. Aubrey cannot be sugarcoated: it’s a failure.
Aubrey has not come close to winning the job. All that’s happened here is that Vizcaino - who hung around as part of the team after last year while the now-departed Brett Maher struggled late - has lost the job.
On Saturday, McCarthy used his daily "Mojo Moment" in practice to put the spotlight on his kickers … and they melted.
Aubrey went just 1-of-3 on his field-goal attempts … but Vizcaino missed all three of his.
The Cowboys cannot afford stubbornness here and they cannot afford to be wrong. Aubrey, a former soccer player from McKinney and the MLS, will get all the looks for now, maybe all the way to Saturday when Dallas hosts the Jags in the first preseason game at AT&T Stadium.
Are “prospects” making less than $1 million in salary, “worth it” while the likes of vets Robbie Gould, Ryan Succup and Mason Crosby have been available? The Cowboys had two ways to answer that question in the affirmative. And they just cut one of those ways.
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