Cowboys sign All-Pro kicker Brandon Aubrey to richest contract at his position in NFL history

Nick Harris, Fort Worth Star-Telegram on Apr 20, 2026

Published in Football

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The Dallas Cowboys have agreed to a four-year contract with kicker Brandon Aubrey worth $28 million, making him the highest-paid kicker in NFL history and locking him in through 2030, a team source confirmed to the Star-Telegram on Monday.

The deal eclipses Houston Texas’ kicker Ka’imi Fairbairn’s deal worth $6.5 million per season. ESPN first reported the news.

According to Cowboys owner Jerry Jones and executive vice president Stephen Jones, Aubrey’s representation has had an offer to be the highest-paid kicker since before the 2025 season began.

The two sides met at the NFL combine in Indianapolis to work toward a solution, but could not come to an agreement. Aubrey then hit restricted free agency, where he hoped that another team would give him a more sizable offer. That never came, and it ultimately ended with Monday’s signing.

Aubrey’s career has been unique, as he began his professional sporting career as a soccer player in the MLS where he was a first-round pick in 2017 following a successful college career at Notre Dame. His soccer career quickly flamed out, though, and he was out of the sport by 2018.

From there, he put his Notre Dame degree to use by becoming a software engineer. While watching football one day with his wife, Jenn, she told him that he could be a kicker. He used that motivation to start working with a local kicking coach, Brian Egan, at nights and on weekends.

After three years of training, Aubrey was drafted by the Birmingham Stallions of the United States Football League in 2022. In two seasons, he converted 32 of his 37 field-goal attempts and garnered the attention of then-Cowboys special teams coordinator John Fassel. As Dallas went into the 2023 season needing a stable kicker, the team signed Aubrey for a training camp competition with Tristan Vizcaino. The latter was cut midway through camp, paving the way for Aubrey to begin the season as the team’s starting kicker.

Although he missed his first extra-point attempt in the regular season, Aubrey would go on to be the first-team AP All-Pro kicker in his first season after converting 36 of his 38 kicks with a long of 60 yards. In three seasons, he has made the Pro Bowl each year, has converted 112 of 127 field-goal attempts and has established himself as one of the league’s most reliable legs from deep range.

Aubrey holds the NFL record with six career field goals 60 yards or longer. He made the All-Pro second team in 2024 and 2025.

Just four years removed from working a 9-to-5, the Plano native is now the league’s highest-paid kicker of all time.