![\"Brandon](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/GettyImages-2248131028-e1775150628712.jpg\")
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Brandon Aubrey #17 of the Dallas Cowboys <\/p>\n
The Dallas Cowboys<\/a> almost certainly will have kicker Brandon Aubrey<\/a> back on the field for them in 2026, and in the end, that\u2019s what most fans and observers of the team are most concerned with knowing. Aubrey is, arguably, the best kicker in football, an All-Pro and a three time Pro Bowler who has made 112 of the 127 field goals he\u2019s attempted in his three-year career,\u00a0 including 35 made 50-yarders on 40 attempts.<\/p>\n With new rules on kickoffs making it easier than ever for teams to get into field-goal range, even on shabby drives, Aubrey\u2019s value has been going up. He is also, as a third-year undrafted player, in the midst of his first free agency, and he has had the poor fortune to be going through that process with the Cowboys.<\/p>\n That\u2019s because the Cowboys\u2013owner Jerry Jones specifically\u2013approach every negotiation as a battle to be won, a stance that he\u2019s tried to take with Dak Prescott<\/a>, CeeDee Lamb<\/a> and Micah Parsons<\/a> in the last three years. Whether he was successful in any of those cases can be debated.<\/p>\n Brandon Aubrey and Cowboys Still Far Apart<\/p>\n But now it\u2019s Aubrey\u2019s turn through the wringer. His Cowboys free agency is not getting the kind of publicity that the George Pickens<\/a> situation is getting, but it\u2019s worthwhile nonetheless\u2013Aubrey is a serious offensive weapon. The Cowboys and Aubrey have had scant conversations on a new contract, with reports indicating Dallas\u2019 offer is just under $7 million annually, while Aubrey is seeking $10 million per year.<\/p>\n The Cowboys put the second-round tender on Aubrey, which means he can negotiate with other teams, but the Cowboys can match any offer, and if they choose not to, the signing team would owe Dallas a second-round pick. The Cowboys can leave Aubrey at that contract (worth $5.8 million for one year), and make him either sign it or hold out for a bigger long-term deal.<\/p>\n Cowboys Could Use Franchise Tag on Brandon Aubrey<\/p>\n The Cowboys can\u2019t use the franchise tag on Aubrey, though, because they\u2019re using that on Pickens. Teams can only use one franchise tag per year. But, as Nick Harris<\/a> of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram reports, Aubrey is the top candidate to be franchised next March.<\/p>\n Writes Harris<\/a>: \u201cKicker Brandon Aubrey is next in line to potentially see the tag placed. \u2026 While the team has tried to get a long-term deal done and has offered a contract that would make him the highest-paid kicker in the league multiple times, Aubrey elected to test the restricted free agency waters. If no team bites on an offer sheet, he will be required to sign the tender contract which would theoretically put him in unrestricted free agency in 2027.<\/p>\n \u201cThen, the Cowboys could place a franchise tag with an expected tag number of $7.27 million, according to Over the Cap.\u201d<\/p>\n GettyDallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u2018We Do Have Long-Term Plans\u2019<\/p>\n The Cowboys could, potentially, put the franchise tag on Pickens again in 2027, though, and considering the position he plays, that might be the better financial play for Dallas. That deal would be worth around $35 million, but only for one year. It would be cheaper in the long term to re-tag Pickens and simply pay Aubrey than vice-versa.<\/p>\n Jones has been clear, with both Aubrey and Pickens, that the intention is to keep them in place with the Cowboys for the long term. But there will, apparently, be a lot of contract wrestling in the meantime.<\/p>\n \u201cI would say that I\u2019m satisfied short of where we are with him signing the tender offer,\u201d\u00a0Jones said<\/a> of Aubrey this week. \u201cI\u2019m satisfied with where we are there. \u2026 I\u2019m not going to get into what it would take [to sign him to a long-term deal], because that\u2019s obviously still subject of a negotiation. But we do have long-term plans.\u201d<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tSean Deveney<\/a> is a veteran sports reporter covering the NBA, NFL and MLB for Heavy.com. He has written for Heavy since 2019 and has more than two decades of experience covering the NBA, including 17 years as the lead NBA reporter for the Sporting News. Deveney is the author of 7 nonfiction books, including “Fun City,” “Before Wrigley became Wrigley,” and “Facing Michael Jordan.” More about Sean Deveney<\/a>\t\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tMore Heavy on Cowboys\n\t\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t\t\tLoading more stories\n\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Getty Brandon Aubrey #17 of the Dallas Cowboys The Dallas Cowboys almost certainly will have kicker Brandon Aubrey…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":849707,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[2066],"tags":[230,229,257,2461,7,6],"class_list":{"0":"post-849706","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-dallas-cowboys","8":"tag-cowboys","9":"tag-dallas","10":"tag-dallas-cowboys","11":"tag-dallascowboys","12":"tag-football","13":"tag-nfl"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116336377117673559","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/849706","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=849706"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/849706\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/849707"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=849706"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=849706"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=849706"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Dallas](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/1775152106_322_GettyImages-2245306009.jpg\")
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