The Dallas Cowboys have many players (UFA/RFA) who will officially hit the open market in March. Today, we continue our series examining each of the Cowboys’ impending free agents, reviewing their 2025 campaign and predicting what will be next for each player.
We continue our free agent profile series by taking a look at Dallas’ star kicker, Brandon Aubrey.
2025 Regular Season Stats: 17G, 36 FGM/42 FGA, 85.7% FG%, 47 XPM/48 XPA, 97.9% XP%, Pro Bowl/ Second-Team All-Pro
Year Review: Brandon Aubrey’s continued dominance was one of the lone positives to come out of the Cowboys’ disappointing 2025 season. The 30-year-old kicker once again proved to be one of the league’s most valuable weapons, putting together another fantastic season.
Aubrey finished the season converting 36 of 42 field goals, the fourth-most of any kicker in the league. The former MLS first-round pick also continued to be the most productive kicker on long-range attempts in the league, leading the NFL in 50+ yard field goals made (11) for the third-straight season.
While there is no denying that Aubrey had another fantastic season, he did have a bit of a rocky end to the year. After converting 27 of his first 29 field goal attempts in Dallas’ first 13 games, the 30-year-old went just 9-for-13 (69.7%) in the final four games of the regular season. To the All-Pro’s credit, two of his four misses during this stretch came at Washington and New York, two of the worst fields in terms of kicking conditions of any in the league.
Even with the misses at the end of the year, Aubrey proved without a doubt that he is one of the best kickers in the game and is deserving of a long-term extension.
Free Agency Outlook: Thankfully for the Cowboys, Aubrey is not a traditional free agent this spring. The 30-year-old kicker will be a restricted free agent, meaning the Cowboys will have complete control over whether or not they bring him back for at least one more season.
Dallas can place one of three tenders: first round, second round, or right of first refusal, on Aubrey by the March 11th deadline. This year, the first round tender is worth a little over $8M, with the second round coming in at $5.8M and right-of-refusal at $3.5M.
While it seems unlikely the Cowboys will place the first-round tender on Aubrey, they will, without a doubt, place one of the other two on the kicker, unless they can work out a long-term extension in the next two weeks. Even if Aubrey has the higher second-round tender attached to him, there could be interested teams in acquiring his services, given how much of a weapon he has been for Dallas’ offense in the past three seasons.
Spotrac projects Aubrey’s value on the open market at 4 years, $26M. This would surpass the four-year, $25.6M extension signed by Harrison Butker back in 2024, the largest contract ever given to a kicker in NFL history. With all of his recent success, it seems likely that Aubrey’s camp will look to break Butker’s record in a potential long-term contract.
Cowboys Verdict: There is a 99.9% chance Brandon Aubrey is wearing a Cowboys uniform next season; it’s just a matter of what type of contract he will be playing on. In all likelihood, the Cowboys will place the second-round tender on the All-Pro kicker and hope to work out a long-term extension to keep him in Dallas for years to come.
It may take the largest contract given to a kicker in NFL history to do so, but the Cowboys have no choice but to give in to Brandon Aubrey’s demands and keep him a Cowboy for years to come.
Prediction: Cowboys place the second-round tender on Brandon Aubrey before signing him to a four-year, $27M extension.