Brandon Aubrey is the most talented kicker in NFL history. Will the Dallas Cowboys make him the first $10 million player at the position?
It’s not hyperbole to say that Brandon Aubrey is the greatest and most talented field goal kicker in NFL history.
With the Dallas Cowboys down three to the New York Giants last Sunday with 25 seconds left in regulation, all Dak Prescott had to do was barely cross midfield to get in Aubrey’s range. The 30-year-old calmly nailed a 64-yarder as time expired to send the game to overtime, and hit a 46-yarder as time expired in the extra session to give Dallas a 40-37 victory. It was the first time in league history that the same kicker hit buzzer-beating field goals in regulation and OT in the same game. Cowboys head coach Brian Schottenheimer said Aubrey would’ve made that kick from 70.
That 64-yarder is the third-longest made NFL kick ever, behind Justin Tucker‘s 66-yarder in 2023 and Aubrey’s 65-yarder on Sept. 22 last year. Two games into Aubrey’s third NFL season, he’s already tied the all-time record for most made field goals of at least 60 yards, with four. He’s been selected to the Pro Bowl in both his campaigns to date.
While Aubrey is making a bargain-basement $1.04 million this season, per Spotrac, he’s a restricted free agent after the season. Dallas will have to offer him a first-round, second-round, original-round tender, or a right-of-first-refusal tender. In 2025, that would range from $3.623 million for a right of first refusal or $7.458 million for a first round tender. If Aubrey signs an offer sheet with another team, Dallas has the right to match any offer or receive compensation depending on the tender the Cowboys initially offered.
Jerry Jones and the Cowboys can avoid all this by signing Aubrey to a contract befitting the most talented and prolific kicker in NFL history, and told local radio on Tuesday that a contract extension is definitely coming. Right now, Kansas City’s Harrison Butker has the highest average annual salary at the position, at $6.4 million per year and $17.75 million total guaranteed through the 2028 season. Should Aubrey become the NFL’s first $10 million per year kicker?
“He would unquestionably be the highest-paid kicker,” Mike Tannenbaum, the former New York Jets and Miami Dolphins general manager and current ESPN front office insider, told Boardroom. “I don’t know if he would get to $10 million a year, but he would set records for average per year, guaranteed money, and length.”
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Aubrey’s had a most unorthodox path to NFL greatness. After a standout career as a soccer player at Notre Dame, Aubrey was a first-round pick by Toronto FC in 2017. After he was released by Bethlehem Steel of the USL a year later, he left the sport to become a software engineer. But while he toiled in the corporate world, Aubrey practiced to become a field goal kicker, latching on with the Birmingham Stallions of the USFL in 2022 and 2023 before the Cowboys signed him just two years ago.
Since then, Aubrey has made 83 of his 92 career attempts with Dallas, including 21 of 23 between 40 and 49 yards and an insane 27 of 30 from 50+ yards. The Cowboys have one of the most underrated weapons in the league, someone whose range is so vast that they don’t have to advance the ball very far to potentially put points on the board.
Aubrey breaks convention and tests limits on what field goal range means on a weekly basis, punctuated by his performance Sunday against the Giants. Now it’s time for the Cowboys to break convention on what a kicker should be paid, commensurate with his all-time great ability and performance as the most talented three-point specialist the sport has ever seen.
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