Last in a series breaking down the Cowboys by position (previous entries):

Roster locks: David Buehler, Mat McBriar, L.P. Ladouceur

Good bets: None

On the bubble: None

Long shots: Delbert Alvarado

I personally don’t think they have a kicker on this team.

I welcome David Buehler to prove me wrong. In talking to special teams coach Joe DeCamillis, who believes in Buehler, I know they have a backup plan. How quickly will they have to go to the backup plan? Is Buehler going to have the whole preseason to prove himself before they make a decision? I would hate for this team to be held hostage by their kicking situation.

Buehler wasn’t a consistent kicker in college. In the NFL, your teammates have to have the confidence that you’re going to make the kick. I don’t know if they have that confidence in Buehler. If they watch the same practices that I’ve been watching, I don’t know how they can have that confidence. Look what happened with Nick Folk last year. It changed the way the coaches coached the game.

As a kickoff specialist, Buehler is one of the best in the NFL. The Cowboys drafted him to be that weapon. He is that weapon. I’d hate to see them take that away because of him worrying about field goals.

McBriar is also a weapon. He changes field position. His hang time is impressive, and he’s become a good directional punter. He eliminates the return. The only question about him is whether you have to worry about him as a holder. If you have a struggling holder with a struggling kicker, that’s a pretty bad combination.

The funny thing about snappers is that you never know they’re there until they make a mistake. Nobody knows L.P. Ladouceur. You have to admire his consistency, on long and short snaps. His part of the operation is something that you don’t have to worry about. You do have to worry about the hold and kick.