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Dan Bailey’s $3.4 million base salary played a part in his release

Los Angeles Chargers v Dallas Cowboys

ARLINGTON, TX - NOVEMBER 23: Dan Bailey #5 of the Dallas Cowboys stands on the fiels during warmups before the football game against the Los Angeles Chargers at AT&T Stadium on November 23, 2017 in Arlington, Texas. (Photo by Tom Pennington/Getty Images)

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The biggest question in Dallas-Fort Worth the past two days has been: Why did the Cowboys cut Dan Bailey? It’s usually followed by head shaking.

Cowboys fans truly have angst over the organization’s decision to release the second-most accurate kicker in NFL history in favor of an untested player. Brett Maher has never kicked in a regular-season game.

The first 6 minutes and 30 seconds of Garrett’s press conference Monday were questions about Bailey.

“It was certainly a very difficult decision for us,” Garrett said, via Jon Machota of the Dallas Morning News.

Garrett admitted finances played a role. Bailey was due to make $3.4 million in base salary this season and count $4.2 million against the cap. Maher will make the minimum $480,000.

But the Cowboys did not ask Bailey to take a pay cut, according to a source, which means their decision came down to more than just money.

“Obviously, Dan has been as good of a player as we’ve had around here over the last seven or eight years,” Garrett said. “He’s one of the elite kickers in the game and has been throughout his career, made a ton of big kicks for us. It was not an easy decision for us to make. Obviously, a lot of factors go into this kind of a decision. It was one we talked about a lot. There is a business side to the game as well that is certainly a factor in making a decision like this. But really, honestly, there is a business side to making a lot of decisions we make in the era of the salary cap. You have to allocate dollars to certain guys and you have to decide where you can maybe save some money and save some salary cap space.

“I can’t say enough about Dan Bailey as a person, as a kicker, what he’s done for this organization, the number of pressure kicks he made for us. He and I had a good visit the other day, talked the whole thing through. We wish him nothing but the best going forward. He’s been a great player for us and will continue to be a great player in this league.”

Bailey, who is working out for the Jets on Monday, made 88.2 percent of his career field-goal attempts. But back and groin injuries forced safety Jeff Heath to become an emergency kicker in one game and kept Bailey sidelined for four other games.

He missed five field goals and two extra points last season.

Maher, who played for Ottawa in the Canadian Football League for four seasons, made a 57-yard field goal in the final preseason game against the Texans.