The Dallas Cowboys have been forced to take unusual action to keep Brandon Aubrey in the fold for another season.
The Cowboys placed a second-round tender on Aubrey, who was a restricted free agent. That means any team can make Aubrey a contract offer, but the Cowboys will have the right to match it, and will receive a second-round pick if they decline to.
Aubrey and the Cowboys had been in talks to make him the highest-paid kicker in the NFL, but according to Jonathan Jones of CBS Sports, talks broke down as the two sides failed to agree on just how much Aubrey was worth.
The Cowboys have had a deal on the table that would make Aubrey the highest paid kicker in the league, but both sides couldn’t agree on just how much higher he should be paid.
— Jonathan Jones (@jjones9) March 7, 2026
It’s highly uncommon for a kicker to get such a high tender, but this was the expected outcome when contract talks moved slowly. It is fairly unlikely that any other team will be willing to give up a second-rounder for Aubrey, and even if one did, the Cowboys would almost certainly match their offer anyway.
One can easily understand why the Cowboys value Aubrey so highly. The three-time Pro Bowl selection is one of the most reliable kickers in the game, and one of the best from distance. He went 36/42 on field goal tries last year, and is 35/44 in his career from 50 yards or greater.
Reports had stated the Cowboys and Aubrey were roughly $4 million apart in contract talks. That does not seem like a huge gap, but for a kicker, it’s an enormous discrepancy that the two sides could not sort out.
