Do you think the Cowboys will take care of a Brandon Aubrey extension?
Over the last two years no NFL kicker, and few others at any position, can claim to have handled their job better than Brandon Aubrey. The Dallas Cowboys’ sensation enters just his third season as arguably the best kicker in the game, and continuing that level of performance will be crucial for him in the final year of his contract.
It’s an odd thing to talk about a third-year player who’s also 30 years old, but that’s all part of Aubrey’s unique NFL story. He gave up professional soccer in 2018, started working as a software engineer, but then got interested in playing American football. After a few years of working with a coach, he made it to the USFL and played two years there before the Cowboys brought him in.
The rest is a short but spectacular history. Aubrey made his first 19 field goal attempts in 2023, setting a league record, and finished the year as the NFL scoring leader. He was a First-Team All-Pro as a rookie, Second-Team in 2024, and made the Pro Bowl both seasons. With multiple nods as the NFC Special Teams Player of the Week or Month along the way, he’s become a big name at an often underappreciated position. With the ultimate combination of accuracy, distance, and clutch, Aubrey enters 2025 with very few peers.
The one area where Aubrey doesn’t match his fellow kickers is his paycheck. He’ll make just $1.03 million in 2025, which is about $5 million less than other big names like the Chiefs’ Harrison Butker and the Eagles’ Jake Elliott. But this is the end of Aubrey’s original three-year contract he signed with Dallas, so with another elite season, he’ll rightfully expect fair compensation.
Because he’ll only have three accrued seasons as an NFL veteran, Aubrey would only be a restricted free agent in 2026. The Cowboys may lowball him with the lowest RFA tender, currently projected at $3.45 million. If another team tries to swoop in, Dallas would have the right to match their contract offer. But then you’re allowing another front office to dictate the terms of that deal, and that’s not something Stephen Jones would be happy about.
Aubrey’s age does make a long-term deal concerning. Kickers often suffer sudden, dramatic declines at a certain point. We saw that with Dan Bailey, who went from a legend to a liability with little warning. Once the body breaks down, the mechanics and confidence that made kickers great are very hard to maintain. So with Aubrey, who turns 31 next March, the Cowboys might be nervous about a multi-year commitment.
One solution may be the second-round RFA tender, currently projected at $5.66 million. That would give Aubrey a significant raise, not far behind his fellow elites, while also keeping Dallas flexible in the future. If Aubrey is still automatic even after 2026, they could consider using the franchise tag. Next year’s tag for specialists is projected at $6.73 million, which would barely edge Aubrey over Butker for the highest single-year compensation. But if he’s still playing at his current level, Aubrey would be worth it.
Figuring out how to keep the NFL’s best kicker is a great problem to have. If Brandon Aubrey is worthy of these things in the coming years, it means the Cowboys have enjoyed fantastic play from him along the way. The good news is that Dallas has plenty of ways to keep Aubrey while still protecting themselves from an age or injury-induced decline. It’s an unusual situation for a 30-year-old player, and one that the Cowboys should benefit from.
