SAN FRANCISCO – For the third time in as many seasons, Cowboys kicker Brandon Aubrey is back in the Pro Bowl.
Being in the NFL, much less the success that Aubrey's had in Dallas since he signed with the team in 2023, is something he never could've imagined.
"I just wanted to get a job, wanted to get in training camp and win that job," Aubrey said. "The rest kind of, we wanted to see how it'd play out and just focus game to game and keep making kicks."
And make kicks he has. Aubrey has connected on 112 of his 127 career field goal attempts, missed just four extra points on 130 attempts and made 36 of his 42 field goals from 50 yards or longer.
On Monday, Aubrey revealed that the Cowboys had begun contract talks with him in-season, but he wanted to keep his focus on the games at hand and deferred those conversations to his agent.
"That's not something I want to get super involved in." Aubrey said.
Similarly, Aubrey doesn't have any sort of deadline for when he'd like a deal done, but the dream is still "absolutely" to remain in Dallas.
"I can't say," Aubrey said when asked if there was any time period he'd want the deal done within. "I'm not really focused on it. Right now I'm just focused on being at the Pro Bowl and enjoying it and having a good vacation."
All of the sudden, the former software engineer has a chance to become the highest-paid kicker in NFL history this offseason, where he's a free agent. For some, the free agency process is a stressful one. Given his earlier experiences in his soccer career, Aubrey has everything in front of him put in perspective.
"It'll come when it comes," Aubrey said. "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. It's nice, it definitely keeps me – 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."
This time around, the goal of getting that second contract is much more realistic. It's a goal that he, and many NFL players in their first contracts, strive for as soon as they hit the field at the professional level for the first time.
"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," Aubrey said. "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."
Now, that value has a chance to extend Aubrey's window where he won't have to work a normal job even further than he would've ever thought.
