Every year, you can count on certain players being at the Pro Bowl. Ja’Marr Chase. Micah Parsons. Christian McCaffrey. The list goes on.
While the kicker position is typically pretty sporadic when it comes to finding consistent Pro Bowlers, Dallas Cowboys kicker Brandon Aubrey has been a staple of the event in each of the three years he’s been in the NFL, and 2026 is no different.
“This is awesome,” Aubrey said on Monday. “Love these events, get to hang out with a lot of the players that have had fantastic seasons and are some of the best in the league. Any time you get a chance to mingle with those people, you try and learn as much as you can from them and just kind of soak it all in. It’s kind of a paid vacation for us. It’s a true honor to be here, hopefully we can keep coming back.”
It’s a unique offseason for the Plano native. After signing a three-year contract to simply find an NFL team back in 2023, it’s now time for him to work out a second contract — one that could make him the highest-paid kicker in NFL history.
“I just wanted to get a job [back in 2023],” Aubrey said. “Wanted to get in training camp and win that job. The rest, we wanted to see how it’d play out and just focus game-to-game and keep making kicks.”
Aubrey is a restricted free agent this offseason, meaning the Cowboys can place a “tender” on him in the form of a first-round pick or a second-round pick. If any team makes Aubrey an offer and the Cowboys do not match, that team would have to give the Cowboys the given draft pick compensation. Or, Dallas could simply request to have the right to match any deal that is made to the kicker.
Similar situations in the past indicate that the Cowboys would be inclined to place a second-round tender on him. It was what the Baltimore Ravens did with kicker Justin Tucker in 2015 before re-signing him to a long-term extension.
However it ends up shaking out for Aubrey, he’s focusing on his gratefulness of the journey. A former professional soccer player who went from a first-round pick in the MLS to on the streets less than two years later, making it this far in the NFL is the dream. Anything after that is a cherry on top.
“It’ll come when it comes,” he said about the contract. “I failed to reach a second contract in soccer, really didn’t make it out of my first year. And I was fine, I found a job in the real world and started a family, got married and all that.”
“That’s where I’m at with football. I say every year I have an NFL job is 7 to 10 years I won’t have to have a normal job. So, we’ll be fine without a contract, but obviously the contract accelerates the retirement.”
The three-time Pro Bowler said that the Cowboys had initial discussions with his representation during the season, but that he decided to keep his focus on the schedule at-hand. Getting those talks back started shouldn’t be difficult, especially given that the dream remains to stay in Dallas.
“’That’s everyone’s financial goal when it comes to the NFL,” he said. “Everyone wants to hit that second contract because you don’t have much say in your first, and you can really earn a second contract. Whatever you’ve shown your worth on the field is what the market will pay you. That’s not really the case with the first contract, everyone kind of gets the same thing as an undrafted guy. And to be honest, that’s what I was worth in the market when I signed. So, I think we’ve improved on that value.”
To become the highest-paid kicker, Aubrey will have to sign a deal worth more than the $6.4 million that Chiefs kicker Harrison Butker makes per year. Butker also holds the record for total value of a contract in a deal worth $25.6 million.
Nick Harris
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