Cowboys ‘smooth’ rookie kicker Brandon Aubrey on precipice of making NFL history

Finding continuity at the kicker position has evaded the Dallas Cowboys since Pro Bowler Dan Bailey, the franchise’s all-time leader in made field goals (186), departed for the Minnesota Vikings in 2018 after seven seasons with Dallas (2011-2017). They have cycled through Brett Maher (2018, 2019, 2022),  Kai Forbath (2019) and Greg Zuerlein (2020-2021) since, but it appears the Cowboys may have found their long-term future at the position with 28-year-old rookie Brandon Aubrey. 

His age is high for rookie, but that’s because the NFL is the third act of his professional sports career. The Plano, Texas native spent his college years playing soccer at Notre Dame as a defender where he totaled 15 goals in 76 games. His collegiate career led to a first-round draft selection to Major League Soccer in 2017 after he was chosen by Toronto FC. However, his time ran out a year later in 2018.

Fast forward four years to 2022, and Aubrey repurposed his leg for football, which immediately paid dividends. He became the USFL’s top kicker for its best team, the Birmingham Stallions, connecting on 14 of his 15 field goals and all 35 of his extra points for the 2023 league champions. That performance made him noteworthy enough to be brought back home to Texas as a Dallas Cowboy where he competed with Tristan Vizcaino all offseason for the right to succeed the departed Brett Maher as the team’s next kicker. Vizcaino, who had kicked for four NFL teams, was released on August 7, paving the way for Aubrey. Since, he has been literally perfect on his field goals, draining all 16, including the game-winner from 39 yards out in the Cowboys’ 20-17 victory over the Los Angeles Chargers on “Monday Night Football” in Week 6. 

Prior to the start of the 2023 season, McCarthy has bestowed the highest compliment he could give a kicker that he coaches: comparing him to a young Mason Crosby. The now 39-year-old kicker played 16 seasons with the Green Bay Packers from 2007, McCarthy’s second season as head coach with the Green Gold, through the 2022 season. Crosby is the Packers all-time leading scorer (1,918), all-time leader in made field goals (395), and all-time leader in extra points made (733). Crosby’s 395 career made field goals and 753 extra points made are also the most in the NFL since his debut in 2007.

“He [Aubrey] can crush it,” Dallas Cowboys head coach Mike McCarthy said postgame on Monday. “He is so consistent. I enjoy watching him work. He is off to a great start. I don’t know that I have seen a start like this in my time with a kicker.”

McCarthy hasn’t personally experienced a start like Aubrey’s because what his rookie kicker is doing may go down in the NFL’s all-time record books. The league’s record for most field goals without missing to start a career is 18, which was set back in the 2015 season by Cleveland Browns kicker Travis Coons. Aubrey is just three made field goals away from being the new NFL all-time record-holder. 

Most Field Goals Made Without Missing to Start Career
NFL History

* Streak currently active

“He is butter,” Dallas Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott said of Aubrey postgame on Monday night. “Butter Aubrey. Smooth, always has been since the day he showed up. I am a big fan of his game. I met and have known him years before he became a Dallas Cowboy. One of my best friends trains him. To know his story and following him when he was in the USFL and then for us to take a chance on him when we had another kicker [Tristan Vizcaino] in the preseason. He’s an athlete playing kicker. When you have that, he has been a professional in soccer, in another football league and now in the NFL, he is mature as hell. Butter with it. Smooth. No surprise.”

The Cowboys are on their bye in Week 7, but Aubrey will have a chance to break the record in front of his home fans, family and friends at AT&T Stadium in Week 8 against the Los Angeles Rams.