FRISCO, Texas

Second-guessers will be ready to pounce when Brett Maher takes the field for the Cowboys to attempt the first regular-season kick of his NFL career.

If he misses, the refrain from Dallas fans figures to be something along the lines of, “Dan Bailey woulda made it.”

The Cowboys factored that into their surprising decision to release the second-most accurate kicker in league history because of Bailey’s struggles after an injury last season and the relatively large salary for his position.

They replaced him with a 28-year-old training camp journeyman with four years of CFL experience in Maher, who wasn’t in the locker room when it was open to reporters Tuesday.

The club’s career leader with 186 field goals, Bailey has made 88.2 percent of his attempts in seven seasons, second to Baltimore’s Justin Tucker (90.2).

Bailey was the most accurate in NFL history among kickers with at least 100 attempts when he injured his right groin at San Francisco last season and missed four games. Bailey was 8 of 13 after coming back and finished at a career-low 75 percent.

The enduring image for Garrett was Bailey shanking a 23-yard attempt in the final seconds of a meaningless finale at Philadelphia after the Cowboys put the ball in the middle of the field.