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IRVING, Texas - While his rookie season was spent primarily as the kickoff specialist, David Buehler now figures to handle all of the kicking duties for the Cowboys this season.
While the new No. 18 prepares himself to be the full-time kicker, he's going to get some help - from a former No. 18 kicker who had a standout career with the Cowboys as well.
The Cowboys are expecting to hire Chris Boniol as a consultant to work directly with Buehler this season.
Boniol, who played for the Cowboys from 1994-96 and then three more seasons with the Eagles and Bears, currently lives in the Dallas area and holds various kicking clinics for both youth and even professional place-kickers.
Boniol is expected to work with Buehler twice a week during the off-season, starting in March and lasting at least through training camp, if not into the regular season. While the specific duties haven't been ironed out yet for Boniol, obviously the plan is for him to help Buehler and even newly-signed kicker Connor Hughes learn the ins and outs of being an NFL kicker.
"We want to give every chance for David, and anyone else in competition for that job, to be the best that he can be and to get him as ready for the season as possible," said Cowboys special teams coordinator Joe DeCamillis, who said he believes Buehler can learn a lot, both on and off the field from Boniol. "The best way to do that is to have someone who is almost like a swing-coach for a golfer. We want the same thing for him. We want to him to focus on that, along with being a pro and understanding what it's going to be when you make one, what it's going to be when you miss one . . . just all of those things."
In six seasons, Boniol made 78.5 percent of his kicks, but his three best years were all in Dallas, where he made 81-of-93 field goals and his 87.1 percent average ranks first in Cowboys history. In just three years, Boniol also ranks second in field goals made, trailing only Rafael Septien (162), who played nine seasons.
Boniol signed a free-agent deal with the Eagles and spent two years in Philly, making 36-of-52 kicks before hitting 11-of-18 field goals with the Bears in 1999.
"Chris has kicked in the league and he knows those things, he knows what it is to be successful and knows what it is to have adversity. We want to try give him those experiences before it happens."
While Buehler led the NFL in touchbacks last season with 29, which also set a new Cowboys single-season record, DeCamillis said his second-year kicker should have a leg up this year, simply from switching his mindset from a just kickoff specialist to a full-time kicker.
"No, he didn't have that (mindset) last year," DeCamillis said. "We knew what our plan was and we stuck with that plan because of what we had coming back with Nick (Folk). So I think that will help him too because now the pressure will be on him to be that guy. So I think that will help him, no question, to get all of the reps."
Near the end of last season when Folk's struggles started to mount, the Cowboys opened up the competition during practice, giving Buehler half of the field-goal reps. However, despite Folk's problems that eventually led to his release with two games remaining on the schedule, Buehler showed he still wasn't ready to take over as the new kicker.
That's an approach the former USC kicker said will change this year.
"My goal is to be the kicker next season," Buehler said last month. "Whoever is here on the roster, I'm planning on competing for the job. That really wasn't the case last year. I knew my role was to come in and kick off, play special teams and help out wherever I could. I still got a few (field-goal) kicks in there, but I plan on doing a lot more this summer. It starts now, with changing the mindset and getting ready to compete."
For now, it appears Buehler's main competition will come from Hughes, who was signed by the Cowboys on Feb. 1. Hughes was among five kickers who tried out for Folk's job, which eventually went to Shaun Suisham.
"He had a decent workout for us when he came in," DeCamillis said. "He's had no experience in the league. It'll come down to competition and we'll see what happens with him. He's done some good things from a standpoint of what he did in college football, but he's got a long way to go to compete. The problem is that he's only going to be a field goal kicker. He can't kick off in this league, in my opinion. Maybe he'll show that he can throughout training camp. I think he's going to have to be in a place where they have a kickoff guy and luckily we have that here."
While it worked out to keep two kickers on the active roster all season long, ideally the Cowboys and DeCamillis would prefer to find just one kicker, freeing up a spot for possibly another coverage player.
Speaking of preferences, the Cowboys would just assume Buehler, a fifth-round pick in 2009, be that player to handle both jobs. We know he can kick off, but now they want to see if he can be an all-around kicker as well.
And they're making sure he's got all of the resources to do just that.
While the new No. 18 prepares himself to be the full-time kicker, he's going to get some help - from a former No. 18 kicker who had a standout career with the Cowboys as well.
The Cowboys are expecting to hire Chris Boniol as a consultant to work directly with Buehler this season.
Boniol, who played for the Cowboys from 1994-96 and then three more seasons with the Eagles and Bears, currently lives in the Dallas area and holds various kicking clinics for both youth and even professional place-kickers.
Boniol is expected to work with Buehler twice a week during the off-season, starting in March and lasting at least through training camp, if not into the regular season. While the specific duties haven't been ironed out yet for Boniol, obviously the plan is for him to help Buehler and even newly-signed kicker Connor Hughes learn the ins and outs of being an NFL kicker.
"We want to give every chance for David, and anyone else in competition for that job, to be the best that he can be and to get him as ready for the season as possible," said Cowboys special teams coordinator Joe DeCamillis, who said he believes Buehler can learn a lot, both on and off the field from Boniol. "The best way to do that is to have someone who is almost like a swing-coach for a golfer. We want the same thing for him. We want to him to focus on that, along with being a pro and understanding what it's going to be when you make one, what it's going to be when you miss one . . . just all of those things."
In six seasons, Boniol made 78.5 percent of his kicks, but his three best years were all in Dallas, where he made 81-of-93 field goals and his 87.1 percent average ranks first in Cowboys history. In just three years, Boniol also ranks second in field goals made, trailing only Rafael Septien (162), who played nine seasons.
Boniol signed a free-agent deal with the Eagles and spent two years in Philly, making 36-of-52 kicks before hitting 11-of-18 field goals with the Bears in 1999.
"Chris has kicked in the league and he knows those things, he knows what it is to be successful and knows what it is to have adversity. We want to try give him those experiences before it happens."
While Buehler led the NFL in touchbacks last season with 29, which also set a new Cowboys single-season record, DeCamillis said his second-year kicker should have a leg up this year, simply from switching his mindset from a just kickoff specialist to a full-time kicker.
"No, he didn't have that (mindset) last year," DeCamillis said. "We knew what our plan was and we stuck with that plan because of what we had coming back with Nick (Folk). So I think that will help him too because now the pressure will be on him to be that guy. So I think that will help him, no question, to get all of the reps."
Near the end of last season when Folk's struggles started to mount, the Cowboys opened up the competition during practice, giving Buehler half of the field-goal reps. However, despite Folk's problems that eventually led to his release with two games remaining on the schedule, Buehler showed he still wasn't ready to take over as the new kicker.
That's an approach the former USC kicker said will change this year.
"My goal is to be the kicker next season," Buehler said last month. "Whoever is here on the roster, I'm planning on competing for the job. That really wasn't the case last year. I knew my role was to come in and kick off, play special teams and help out wherever I could. I still got a few (field-goal) kicks in there, but I plan on doing a lot more this summer. It starts now, with changing the mindset and getting ready to compete."
For now, it appears Buehler's main competition will come from Hughes, who was signed by the Cowboys on Feb. 1. Hughes was among five kickers who tried out for Folk's job, which eventually went to Shaun Suisham.
"He had a decent workout for us when he came in," DeCamillis said. "He's had no experience in the league. It'll come down to competition and we'll see what happens with him. He's done some good things from a standpoint of what he did in college football, but he's got a long way to go to compete. The problem is that he's only going to be a field goal kicker. He can't kick off in this league, in my opinion. Maybe he'll show that he can throughout training camp. I think he's going to have to be in a place where they have a kickoff guy and luckily we have that here."
While it worked out to keep two kickers on the active roster all season long, ideally the Cowboys and DeCamillis would prefer to find just one kicker, freeing up a spot for possibly another coverage player.
Speaking of preferences, the Cowboys would just assume Buehler, a fifth-round pick in 2009, be that player to handle both jobs. We know he can kick off, but now they want to see if he can be an all-around kicker as well.
And they're making sure he's got all of the resources to do just that.
