In three NFL seasons, Brandon Aubrey has done something no kicker in league history has managed: convert six field goals from 60 yards or beyond. He owns a career long of 65 yards, an 88.2% career accuracy rate, and is the only kicker in the league history with three made field goals from 60 yards or longer in a single season. And now, the best kicker in football is caught in a standoff with Jerry Jones, and how the Dallas Cowboys handle it could hand one of 31 rivals the most dangerous leg in the game.

“Cowboys placed the second-round, $5.76 million tender on kicker Brandon Aubrey,” Adam Schefter reported on Instagram. “Aubrey can now sign an offer sheet with another team that the Cowboys would have the right to match. If they don’t, they would get back a second-round pick.”

Aubrey and his agent, Todd France, demanded $10 million per year. Dallas countered with $7.5 million annually, an offer that would have made Aubrey the highest-paid kicker in NFL history. But he said no.

So Jerry Jones answered with the second-round restricted free agent tender, locking his kicker in at $5.76 million for the 2026 season. He’s already the third-highest paid kicker in the league now, but Schefter expects more.

“The $5.76 million tender currently placed on Aubrey makes him the league’s third highest-paid kicker behind the Chiefs’ Harrison Butker ($6.4M) and the Eagles’ Jake Elliot ($6M),” Schefter wrote. “Whenever a new deal gets done, Aubrey is expected to become the league’s highest-paid kicker.”

But if the Dallas Cowboys are content with letting their star kicker walk for a 2nd round pick, what’s next for Aubrey? Cowboys EVP Stephen Jones had addressed the impasse directly at the NFL Combine, expressing a desire to reach a common ground.

“We’ve been in talks with Aubrey even before the season started,” Stephen Jones had said. “It’s been a journey, but we haven’t been able to get to a point where we can all agree. Haven’t gotten done, but we’d love to get him done.”

Jerry Jones, meanwhile, also heaped praises for Aubrey via Tommy Yarrish of the Cowboys’ official website. 

“I think he’s outstanding,” Jerry said. “Love his story, love the fact that the story is with the Cowboys. We feel good that what we are talking about is an appreciation of what he can do for us. That’s a way of, not trying to negotiate with anything I might say here, but we’ve got a good offer on the table for him.”

But that number hasn’t been agreed to yet. Aubrey’s $10 million ask, meanwhile, isn’t a bluff, but backed by numbers no other kicker can replicate. His 79.5% accuracy from 50-plus yards is elite by any standard, and those six conversions from 60-plus yards represents a category he owns alone. The $2.5 million gap between his demand and Dallas’ offer looks smaller every time a team’s kicker misses a 52-yarder in the fourth-quarter. And even before the Cowboys officially placed the second-round tender on him, Aubrey was prepared for it.

“Obviously the tender is what the Cowboys have talked about, and it’s a good problem to have,” Aubrey had said on Wednesday, March 4th. “It’s a good amount of money and it’s a big pay raise for me from before, but it’s not ideal for any player. So, we’ll see what happens. I’m excited to be in this position. It’s an opportunity for me to just be in this position so I’m thankful for that.”

Multiple analysts believe that a lot of the teams are going to be fighting for Brandon Aubrey come March 11. Five teams, in particular, have both the need and the motivation to make that run. The tender has placed Aubrey in a shop window now. So, who’s looking?

The best new destinations for Brandon Aubrey

1. Los Angeles Rams

The Rams burned through two kickers in 2025. Joshua Karty converted just 66.7% of his field goal attempts before Harrison Mevis replaced him. Mevis, in turn, produced one 52-yarder and missed a 50-plus kick. Still, his 92.3% field goal completion gives the Rams plenty to work with.

But Aubrey’s 79.5% success rate from 50-plus yards would immediately extend Los Angeles’ scoring threat by twenty yards. General manager Les Snead built his roster identity around trading picks for proven talent. Surrendering a second-rounder for the best kicker in football fits his blueprint exactly.

2. Atlanta Falcons

No team bled more from kicker chaos in 2025 than Atlanta. The Falcons cycled through three kickers: Younghoe Koo, John Parker Romo, and Zane Gonzalez. This directly lost them three games in turn. What’s even more alarming is the fact that Atlanta has connected on just one field goal from beyond 56 yards over the past three seasons. That isn’t a special team statistic, it is a hard ceiling on this team’s ability to operate in the clutch. Aubrey removes that ceiling right from day one.

3. New York Giants

John Harbaugh arrives in New York with a Super Bowl on his resume and special teams excellence as a cornerstone of everything he builds. But what he inherits with the Giants is a kicking disaster: four kickers and a punter used last season, the league’s worst extra-point percentage at 87.8%, and just 57.1% on attempts from 40 yards or beyond.

Harbaugh spent over a decade with the Baltimore Ravens building championship-caliber programs on reliable kicking. He will not tolerate the Giants’ current situation for a single season, and Brandon Aubrey becomes the perfect addition for a rebuilding team.

4. Arizona Cardinals

Chad Ryland converted just 75.2% of his field goal attempts in 2025, with a 58.8% rate on kicks from 43 yards and beyond. Arizona went 3-14, but lost seven games by seven points or fewer, a pattern that traces directly back to missed kicks in moments that mattered most. Now, a second-round pick is steep for a rebuilding franchise. But that close-game record tells you exactly what the position cost when it consistently fails.

5. Miami Dolphins

Miami released Jason Sanders in March 2026 after he missed the entire 2025 season with a hip injury suffered in training camp. His replacement, Riley Patterson, did go 27-for-29, a franchise single-season record for field goal accuracy. But he’s now an unrestricted free agent, leaving Miami without a kicker under contract heading into 2026.

The Dolphins are in a tight cap situation while managing their own rebuild. But Aubrey’s combination of elite accuracy and historic range makes him the most cost-effective scoring upgrade available, even at $10 million per year.

Other potential suitors

Washington Commanders

Washington initially chose not to tender Jake Moody as a restricted free agent, but rather than let the position sit empty, general manager Adam Peters quickly re-signed Moody to a one-year deal before free agency opened. But that’s a bridge move, not a long-term fix. Moody’s 90.9% field goal success with the Commanders last season makes him capable for the job. But for a team with Super Bowl aspirations, Aubrey’s NFL-record long-range arsenal is a different conversation entirely.

Buffalo Bills

Tyler Bass did not kick a single regular-season snap in 2025 after landing on the IR following his hip and groin surgery. Veteran Matt Prater filled in through the playoffs, and general manager Brandon Beane has said he expects Bass to be the team’s kicker in 2026.

Bass had converted 84.5% of his career field goal attempts even before the injury. His 50-plus yard kicking record stands at 16-of-23. But for a Bills squad built to compete right now, the gap between a returning-from-surgery Bass and a historically accurate Brandon Aubrey is a conversation worth having when a championship window is open.

Strictly speaking, Jerry Jones can match whatever offer sheet lands on his desk. But matching at $10 million means accepting a number he has already turned down twice. Not matching means handing a rival the most dominant kicker in football and watching a second-round pick arrive in Dallas in return. Brandon Aubrey has spent three seasons building a case no one in the NFL can dispute. Now, he is simply waiting to find out whether Jerry Jones has the conviction to pay for it.