 Buehler with the Dallas Cowboys in 2009 | |||||||||||||
| No. 18 | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Position | Placekicker | ||||||||||||
| Personal information | |||||||||||||
| Born | (1987-02-05)February 5, 1987 (age 38) Northridge, California, U.S. | ||||||||||||
| Height | 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) | ||||||||||||
| Weight | 227 lb (103 kg) | ||||||||||||
| Career information | |||||||||||||
| High school | Canyon (Anaheim, California) | ||||||||||||
| College | |||||||||||||
| NFL draft | 2009: 5th round, 172nd overall pick | ||||||||||||
| Career history | |||||||||||||
* Offseason and/or practice squad member only | |||||||||||||
| Awards and highlights | |||||||||||||
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| Career NFL statistics | |||||||||||||
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David Jonathan Buehler (born February 5, 1987) is an American former professionalfootballplacekicker in theNational Football League (NFL) for theDallas Cowboys. He was selected by the Cowboys in the fifth round of the2009 NFL draft. He playedcollege football at theUniversity of Southern California.
Buehler attendedCanyon High School inAnaheim, California, where he lettered in football, volleyball, golf, and track. In football, he playedlinebacker andrunning back.[1] He wore jersey #37 and was an All-Century League football selection as a senior. He graduated in 2005.
Buehler enrolled atSanta Ana College inSanta Ana, California, for the 2005–2006 school year. In football, he played placekicker,safety, goal-line running back and agunner onpunts.[1] He was named to the All-Mission Conference National Division first-team. He tallied 24 tackles, one interception, 9 carries for 50 yards (5.6-yard avg.), 6 touchdowns and had 25 touchbacks on his 58 kickoffs.
At the junior college scouting combine he had the fastest40-yard dash time. USC coaches saw Buehler's potential at multiple positions, andhead coachPete Carroll offered him a scholarship in the summer of 2006.[1]
Buehler was recruited to USC for multiple positions, and in his first season with the Trojans (2006) was designated as a third-string placekicker,fullback and safety while playing coverage onspecial teams. He appeared in 11 games, primarily on special teams. Because he had a longer range than the Trojans' starting kicker,Mario Danelo, Buehler was used as for one, longfield goal attempt, a successful 49-yard kick againstCalifornia; it was the Trojans' longest field goal since 1998. Buehler had not expected to kick during the game, he made the kick while wearing the heavier equipment of a fullback and tied the score at 9 as the Trojans went on their way to a conference-clinching victory.[1] He had one kickoff during the 2006Stanford game and, after starting kicker Troy Van Blarcom was dismissed from the team for academic reasons at the end of the regular season, Buehler handled kickoff duties during the2007 Rose Bowl.[2] Of his 8 kickoffs that season, 6 pinned opponents within the 20-yard line, with 3touchbacks.
Days after the2007 Rose Bowl, Danelo, the two-year starting placekicker died in an accident.[3] Danelo had been expected to start during the2007 season; with his death and the dismissal of Van Blarcom the previous month, Buehler became the starting kicker and dropped his other positions.[1][2] He started all 13 games, successfully making 16-of-19 field goals and 52-of-54extra points, plus he made 3special teams tackles. Thirty-five of his 84 kickoffs kept opponents within their 20-yard line, with 18 touchbacks.
Buehler started all 13 games as a senior in the2008 season, making 9 of 13 field goals and 65 of 66 extra points.[4] Three of his four missed field goals during the season came in the regular season finale against rivalUCLA, where he missed all three attempts in a 28–7 Trojans victory. Buehler blamed himself for trying to do a different routine before the contest.[5] He was able to bounce back during the2009 Rose Bowl, making his one field goal attempt and successfully kicking all five extra points in a 38–24 victory overPenn State.[4]
Buehler finished the 2008 season with 5,976 yards on 88 kickoffs. He also registered 48 total touchbacks on those 88 kickoffs.[6]
Buehler was one of twelve USC players invited to the 2009NFL Scouting Combine, where he opted to participate in areas not required of kickers. He recorded results on strength and speed tests that were better than other regarded linebackers andoffensive linemen.
He recorded 25 reps of 225 pounds on the bench press test, better than USC teammateRey Maualuga, linemenMichael Oher andEugene Monroe, and equal toAaron Curry, and ran 4.56 and 4.63 seconds in the40-yard dash, better than teammatesBrian Cushing andClay Matthews III.[7][8]
| Height | Weight | Arm length | Hand span | 40-yard dash | 10-yard split | 20-yard split | Bench press | Wonderlic | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6 ft1+3⁄4 in (1.87 m) | 227 lb (103 kg) | 30+1⁄4 in (0.77 m) | 8+1⁄2 in (0.22 m) | 4.63 s | 1.61 s | 2.68 s | 25 reps | 22 | ||||
| All values fromNFL Combine[9][10] | ||||||||||||
Buehler was selected by theDallas Cowboys in the fifth round (172nd overall) of the2009 NFL draft.[11] He was the firstkicker taken after an impressive showing at the NFL combine. He also was the firstUSCkicker to be drafted sinceCole Ford in 1995.[12] He handled the team'skickoffs and missed his onlyfield goal attempt in the Cowboys' opening regular season game against theWashington Redskins. He made his only attempt (from 39 yards) in a pre-season game againstOakland Raiders on August 13, 2009.[13] He also took the field on thekick andpunt return teams.
In May2009, when theDallas Cowboys' training facility collapsed during rookie mini-camp, Buehler was one of the few players injured. Standing on the sideline at the time of the collapse, he ran out a side door and was sprinting across a practice field when a pole from the structure crashed into him. The impact caused a minor concussion, gashes in his forehead and right knee, and had skin ripped off his ear; he required three stitches on his kicking knee.[14][15]
Duringtraining camp, Buehler tired of taunts fromdefensive backDeAngelo Smith (a fifth-round2009 draft pick) about how he didn't do anything during practice, challenged him to a 50-yard run. Buehler won comfortably.[16] He made the team as a kickoff specialist, which was the first time in the history of the Cowboys that it carried a player for only that specific role.
At the end of his rookie year, he finished the regular season with 29touchbacks, which led theNFL and also set a new franchise record for mosttouchbacks in a single season, with the previous mark being 27 byLin Elliot in1992.[17]
In2010, he won the startingplacekicker job without much competition, afterNick Folk was released the previous year. He finished with 24-of-32 field goal attempts (75%) and 42-of-44 extra points (95.5%). He missed an extra point against theArizona Cardinals that resulted in a 26-27 loss.[18] He converted four field goals from 50+ yards to tie a franchise record set byKen Willis (1991). He registered 14special teams tackles (fifth on the team), setting a club record for kickers. At the time, his 45 touchbacks also passedToby Gowin (42) for the most in a career in franchise history, dating back to1990. He finished 10th in the league in scoring (112) and tied for 13th in total field goals made (24).
Although Buehler hit a career longfield goal of 53 yards on November 25,2010, against theNew Orleans Saints, he also missed a 59-yard field goal which had a chance to tie the game up. He suffered from inconsistency, making only 24 out of 32field goals attempts, ranking 30th out of 32NFLkickers in accuracy. In2011, this caused the Cowboys to give the starter job to rookieDan Bailey, while Buehler was relegated to handle only thekickoffs, as he did in2009.[19] He would end up missing most of the season with a groin injury (only played 4 games) and was placed on theinjured reserve list on November 10.[20] He required surgery to fix a torn adductor muscle.
Buehler was waived on March 13,2012, after not being able to develop into a consistentfield goalplacekicker and the team deciding not to carry a kickoff specialist. In 36 games, he recorded 60 touchbacks, 24 out of 32 field goals made (75%), 42 out of 44 extra points made (95.5%) and 19 special teams tackles.[21]
On February 13,2013, Buehler signed with theNew York Giants to compete for theplacekicker job during preseason.[22] On July 26, he was released after not been able to passJosh Brown on the depth chart.[23]
Buehler's father, John, was ashot putter for the USC Trojans. His uncle,George Buehler, played football for Stanford University and later theOakland Raiders andCleveland Browns; another uncle also played football at Stanford. His grandfather, Fredrick Ford Lynch was a football player for the USC Trojans.
Media related toDavid Buehler at Wikimedia Commons