Brandon Aubrey: The former MLS draft pick breaking NFL records

Tom Weber

• Updated: 7 Oct 2025 04:39 CDT
• 5 min read

FEATURE

Brandon Aubrey of the Dallas Cowboys is arguably the best kicker in the NFL, but his path to the top was an unusual one.

The 30-year-old began his career as a professional athlete in the other football game, even making it to Major League Soccer as a first-round draft pick. It is thanks to his soccer upbringing that the Cowboys' placekicker is now breaking records in the NFL.

After spending his youth playing soccer in Dallas, Texas, Aubrey enrolled in Notre Dame to get a degree in software engineering and continue his budding sporting career.

His senior year in 2016 proved to be his most successful. Despite playing as a centre-back, Aubrey scored nine goals and was named Notre Dame's MVP for the season. He was also recognised with several NSCAA accolades.

He was drafted 21st overall by Toronto FC in the 2017 SuperDraft at a time when the Canadian franchise was the gold standard of MLS teams. He therefore struggled to get into the side and primarily spent time with TFC's reserves in the second-tier USL.

From MLS dropout to NFL superstar

His arrival at TFC coincided with the club investing not just in the first team but also in the academy. As Aubrey later recounted, he was asked by the club to lead "a young core of players coming up through the academy." Himself inexperienced at the non-college level, he struggled in this role.

"I kind of got lost in that transition, where I'm with the first team, I'm in that first team locker room, but I'm out to training with the second team before the first team gets there," he told MLSsoccer.com in 2023.

After a year in Toronto, Aubrey returned to the US to sign with the Philadelphia Union's USL affiliate, Bethlehem Steel. However, the Pennsylvania outfit was in turmoil at the time and would eventually be rebranded as the Union's reserve team. Aubrey again left after just 12 months.

He decided to hang up his boots to get a job in software engineering, but the itch to make it in professional sports never left him. He was given the encouragement to scratch the itch when his wife told him, "You could do that,” after watching an NFL kicker miss an attempt in 2019.

Aubrey began practising his kicking and realised that he was, in fact, very good at it. After a few years of honing his craft alone, he was drafted by the Birmingham Stallions of the newly formed USFL.

After just two seasons, the USFL merged with the XFL into the UFL, and Aubrey decided to return to the familiar surroundings of Dallas. Having impressed at the Stallions, the kicker took part in the Dallas Cowboys' 2023 summer training camp.

He looked to have spurned his opportunity of making the final roster when he missed a 59-yard field goal, but he was offered a second shot from the same distance and converted.

Aubrey keeps breaking NFL records

He made the cut and has since risen to stardom. Aubrey played his rookie season in the NFL at age 28. Now 30, he is already recognised as one of the best placekickers in Cowboys history.

Earlier this month, Aubrey won the NFC Special Teams Player of the Month award for the fourth time, more than any other player in the history of the franchise and the most in the NFL since 2023. He converted nine out of nine field goals in September.

In September of last year, he recorded the second-longest field goal in NFL history when he converted a 65-yarder. A year later, in Week 2 of this season, he forced overtime against the New York Giants with a kick from 64 yards. He then won the game with a 46-yarder.

Aubrey has broken several records since joining the Cowboys. In 2024, he secured the single-season record for most 50-yard field goals with 14. Between 2023 and 2024, he converted a record 16 consecutive field goals from 50 yards or more. In fact, he didn't miss any of his first 36 field goal attempts.

He is expected to eventually break Brett Maher's record of the most field goals from 60+ yards, for which he is currently tied on four. At present, his regular-season field goal conversion rate stands at a whopping 90.4 per cent across his three seasons with the Cowboys.

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