According to multiple tweets from the Dallas beat reporters, and subsequently confirmed by Nick Eatman at dallascowboys.com, the Cowboys have placed David Buehler on injured reserve, effectively ending his season. Buehler apparently re-injured his groin on Wednesday.

To fill the roster spot vacated by Buehler, the Cowboys re-signed guard Daniel Loper, who was waived just last week to make room for punter Chris Jones, who in turn was signed because Mat McBriar is laboring with a foot injury.

With Buehler on IR, the Cowboys still have three kickers on the roster, and have a fourth kicker, Kai Forbath, who has just been cleared to resume practicing after spending the first half of the season on the NFI/PUP list. At practice today, incumbent kicker Dan Bailey, Chris Jones and Kai Forbath were all working on kickoffs.

Putting Buehler on IR allows the Cowboys to avoid the mistake they made when they released Nick Folk outright in 2009, only to have him snapped up by the Jets, where he found back to the form he had displayed in Dallas prior to his injury. It also will mean another exciting offseason of multiple kickers competing for a roster spot in Dallas.