The Dallas Cowboys have offered kicker Brandon Aubrey a contract that would make him the NFL's highest-paid kicker, according to multiple reports on Tuesday.
That offer is apparently not enough. Per Calvin Watkins of the Dallas Morning News, the Cowboys are offering Aubrey a multi-year deal valued at close to $7.5 million per season. Per Watkins, Aubrey is seeking closer to $10 million per year, a contract that would dramatically reset the market for kickers in the NFL.
Kansas City's Harrison Butker is the highest-paid kicker in football with a four-year, $25.6 million contract ($6.4 million per year).
Is Aubrey worth it?
Aubrey has leverage like no other kicker in the NFL. He's a one-of-a-kind weapon who through his first two seasons was virtually automatic from 50-plus yards. He hit all 10 of his 50-plus-yard field goal attempts during his 2023 rookie season with a long of 60.
He went 14 of 17 from 50-plus in 2024, including a 65-yard kick that at the time was the second-longest field goal in NFL history. His six career made kicks of 60 yards or more are the most in NFL history.
He fell off a bit in 2025 with an 11-of-17 rate from 50-plus yards. But that's still a remarkable success rate, and Aubrey has been named All-Pro in each of his three NFL seasons.
Aubrey's reached the end of a three-year, $2.7 million contract that was his first in the NFL. And now's the time for him to leverage his talents for a significant payday.
Cowboys: Aubrey negotiations a 'journey'
Per Cowboys executive vice president Stephen Jones, Aubrey and the Cowboys have been engaged in negotiations since prior to the start of last season. In a media scrum Monday at the NFL combine, he called the negotiations a "journey."
"We’ve been in talks with Aubrey since before the season started," Jones told reporters. "That’s been a journey. We haven’t been able to get to a point where we can all agree so it hasn’t gotten done, but we’d love to get him done."
Jones previously told the Morning News that the Cowboys intend to tender Aubrey if they don't reach an agreement on an extension. Aubrey is a restricted free agent, and the Cowboys have the option of placing a first- or second-round tender on him.
Absent an extension, the Cowboys are expected to place a second-round tender on Aubrey valued at roughly $5.8 million, ESPN reports. Competing teams would have the option of exceeding that tender number, and the Cowboys would have the right to match it on a one-year deal. If Aubrey were to leave to another team in that scenario, the team that signs him would owe the Cowboys a second-round pick.
Aubrey hasn't discussed negotiations in public. But it sounds like he and the Cowboys have some significant work to do to find common ground.
Aubrey's isn't the only deal the Cowboys are working on prior to the start of the new league year on March 11. They're also contemplating placing the franchise tag on wide receiver George Pickens and are leaning toward doing so.