Kickers rarely get a spotlight outside of Sunday afternoons. Brandon Aubrey has become the exception, and not just because he is the best in the NFL.
The Dallas Cowboys star built his path to the league through a sport most of his teammates never played. His soccer background keeps resurfacing in new ways.
The latest example came from Somos Cowboys, the team’s Spanish-language social media, which put Aubrey back on a soccer field for a set of skills challenges most fans had not seen from him before.
Brandon Aubrey shows off his soccer background on cameraThe video, posted by Somos Cowboys with the caption “Testing Brandon Aubrey’s skills,” translated from Spanish, shows the kicker running through footwork drills and juggling exercises in socks on a practice field.
He is joined by a Somos Cowboys host, and the two work through several challenges. Aubrey reacts in Spanish-subtitled English to how rusty his touch has become. At one point he calls a drill “something I hated.” It’s a nod to the technical side of the sport he grew up playing before football ever entered the picture.
The clip runs alongside footage of Aubrey dribbling and controlling the ball on the Cowboys’ training field in Frisco, Texas. The same complex where he now handles field goals instead of tackles.
Aubrey spent four years as a center back at Notre Dame. Plus, two seasons chasing a professional soccer career before football ever crossed his mind.
From Toronto FC to the Cowboys’ record bookBrandon Aubrey was selected with the 21st pick during the 2017 MLS SuperDraft by Toronto FC.Aubrey’s soccer resume is not a footnote. He started 63 of 76 matches over four years at Notre Dame. The 31-year-old won a national championship as a freshman in 2013 and left as a first-team All-ACC selection. Toronto FC made him the 21st overall pick in the 2017 MLS SuperDraft. He then spent that season with the club’s reserve side before a stint with Bethlehem Steel FC.
He was released in 2018. Walking away from the sport to become a software engineer, a career that had nothing to do with football. Until his wife watched him kick a bottle across a yard and told him he could do it for a living.
From soccer to one of the best NFL kickersDallas Cowboys placekicker Brandon Aubrey (17) kicks a field goal during the first half against the Minnesota Vikings at AT&T Stadium.That moment sent Aubrey into training with a private kicking coach, then to the USFL’s Birmingham Stallions, where he won back-to-back titles before the Cowboys signed him in 2023.
He has not slowed down since. Aubrey earned first-team All-Pro honors as a rookie, led the NFL in field goals that year and set a league record with 14 makes from 50 yards or longer in 2024.
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He is 112 of 127 on field goals through three Dallas seasons, including 35 of 44 from beyond 50 yards, and his 65-yard kick against the Baltimore Ravens remains tied for the fourth-longest in NFL history.
The Cowboys made their long-term commitment official in April, signing Aubrey to a four-year, $28 million extension that includes $20 million guaranteed and makes him the highest-paid kicker in league history.
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