Dallas Cowboys Final 7-Round Mock Draft: Risers and Fallers

With the 176th pick in the 2022 NFL Draft the Dallas Cowboys select:

*EVEN*

The Dallas Cowboys say they wanted to bring back Kicker Greg Zuerlein, but he’d eventually go on to sign with the New York Jets. So, the Dallas Cowboys are in need.

Gabe Brkic will be called upon to be the answer.

In his career at Oklahoma, Brkic has missed one lone extra point out of 160 attempts. We’d all like to think moving the XP back at the NFL level wouldn’t have any kind of negative impact in his consistency. Something Zuerlein struggled with a season ago.

Obviously Brkic will need to be more than just a guy who can hit extra points. Otherwise, it’d be likely that Jeff Heath is still on the roster. But you need to kick for distance as well.

Not a problem for the three-year Sooner starter.

In the 2021 season opener, Brkic hit three field goal attempts from beyond 50 yards, including a 56 and a 55 yarder. So there aren’t any concerns about distance either.

If there’s any knock on Brkic as a kicking prospect it could be that he’s long legged standing at 6’3″. Resulting in a longer stride to approach and swing on the ball. Every little bit of time between snap and kick counts.

It hasn’t been an issue for Brkic in the past as he connected on 83% of his attempts. Many of which came when his services required hitting the long bomb.

The Dallas Cowboys front office clearly has been looking for ways to help their salary cap. Rather than signing a veteran Kicker, they  can save pennies by drafting a young player out of the later rounds as they do here.

Every bit of the pie counts.