Former CFL kicker Brett Maher visited the Houston Texans on Wednesday.
Days after general manager and head coach Bill O’Brien was fired, Maher was at the facility for meetings with coaches and talent evaluators. Houston has Ka’imi Fairbairn kicking and Bryan Anger punting, however there are no emergency options on the practice squad.
Maher was released by the New York Jets near the end of training camp this year after losing the kicking competition to 27-year-old Sam Ficken. Special teams coordinator Brant Boyer said it was a close competition. Ficken made 19-of-27 field goals (70.3 percent) last season with the Jets, while Maher was a member of the Dallas Cowboys.
Maher hit on 20-of-30 field goal attempts (66.7 percent) prior to being cut on December 9 in 2019. He had a long of 63 yards, but was one-for-five from 40-49 yards and four-for-eight from 50-plus. In 2018, Maher hit on 29-of-36 three point tries (80.6 per cent), including six-of-seven from 50-plus yards.
The Cowboys signed Maher in April 2018. He beat out Dan Bailey — the second-most accurate kicker in NFL history — to win the job in Dallas. Through two seasons and 29 games with the Cowboys, Maher connected on 49-of-63 field goals (74.2 percent) and made good on 68-of-69 extra point kicks.
Maher is the only kicker in NFL history with three field goals of at least 60 yards, but he had a league-high ten misses last season. While Maher was a free agent last year he worked out for the Tennessee Titans and Los Angeles Rams.
After going unselected in the 2013 NFL draft, Maher signed with the Jets but he was released two and a half months later. Dallas brought him in for two weeks of training camp that August, but let him go.
Winnipeg had Maher at training camp in 2014 but was cut and later signed with Ottawa. He made 18-of-25 field goals with the Redblacks and punted for a 45.4-yard average.
Maher had his best Canadian season in 2017 when he recorded a 46.7-yard punting average and made 82 percent of his field goals (41-for-50) for the Redblacks. He hit the exact same number of field goals on as many attempts for Hamilton in 2016 with a 45.9 punting average.
Since the 2020 NFL season started, Houston is the second team to show interest in Maher, the other was Washington.
