Dallas City News

Brandon Aubrey is living his best dream, kicking in the NFL. He’s been on a meteoric rise from playing soccer as a youth player for the Dallas Texans, then Notre Dame, and then as a reserve player in Major League Soccer, to finally becoming the best kicker in the NFL last season.

Aubrey’s journey to NFL kicker began in earnest when he played in the USFL for the Birmingham Stallions. He played in all 10 games of the 2022 season making 18 of his 22 field goal attempts (82%) and 22 of his 24 extra-point attempts (92%), which both led the league.

The next season, Aubrey finished the season making 14 field goals and missing one (93%), and hit all 35 of his extra points, which led the league once again. He would leave at the end of the season having won two USFL championships.

Soon after that he found himself where it all began, back in Dallas. He was met with some disbelief as he had never played in the NFL, and a lot of analysts and media personalities asked why the Cowboys coaches gave such little attention to the kicker position. A lot of the apprehension came from the approach the coaching staff took the year before as they finally ended up with Brett Maher.

Aubrey’s NFL debut was a nervy watch and he quickly sent everyone into a frenzy when he missed an extra point against the New York Giants. He did hit both field goal attempts in his debut. The field goal attempts kept coming and Aubrey kept striking them perfectly, and soon the narrative changed. Now it wasn’t how many will he miss, but when will he miss.

Everyone became infatuated with Aubrey and if there was any doubt on his skills, those were soon squashed in Week 8 when he drove home a 58-yard attempt, scored 11 total points, and was named NFC Special Teams Player of the Week. The accolades kept coming as Aubrey kept booting field goals and set an NFL record for most consecutive field goals made to start a career with his 19th attempt made against the Philadelphia Eagles. Against the Eagles in Week 14, Aubrey set another record by becoming the first kicker in NFL history to make two field goals from 59+ yards in the same game. He was again named NFC Special Teams Player of the Week and the Cowboys had struck gold at kicker once again.

Aubrey ended his first season in the NFL missing only two field goals, both during the final game of the season (one blocked attempt) and finishing first among kickers with a 95% field goal success rate. He was also named First-Team All-Pro and made the NFC Pro Bowl team, a huge accomplishment for a first-year kicker.

For Aubrey, his skill set with his feet never led him to superstardom in soccer, but that highly accurate right foot ultimately led him further than he could have imagined. He’s now set himself up for a long kicking career in the NFL, hopefully being “butter” for the Dallas Cowboys for a very long time. The only obstacle in his way is his own mind, something all NFL kickers have to deal with. But he’s certainly shown the power he has in his leg driving the ball deep on kickoffs, and he’s shown great accuracy going 36 from 38 attempts in one year.