Brandon Aubrey, the Dallas Cowboys’ Pro Bowl kicker, says his rise to NFL stardom came only after a detour through professional soccer and a stint writing code as a software engineer.
Aubrey, 31, began his athletic career in Major League Soccer before being cut and dropping down to the United Soccer League. “I wasn’t ready to retire from soccer, but when I looked around at the environment, I didn’t perform as well as I needed to stick on a roster and I got cut a couple of times. And at that point, there wasn’t a whole lot of money in soccer at the second tier. So, I slipped from the MLS into the USL,” Aubrey told OutKick.
With a young marriage to support and limited earning potential in the lower-tier soccer league, Aubrey made a pragmatic choice. “I had to really take a long, hard look at it, see if it was worth pursuing, and I could make triple the money I was making in that league as a software engineer, which my degree was in,” he said.
Aubrey said he didn’t want to set his family back financially, so he left athletics for a desk job. But the work left him unfulfilled, and his wife, Jenn, who had stable employment of her own, encouraged him to pursue kicking professionally instead.
“With that support and a lot of hard work and commitment we were able to shift over towards being a kicker, and got a job in the USFL and eventually got noticed at the NFL level and was able to get a job here,” Aubrey said.
A Pro Bowl Run With the Cowboys
Now in his fourth season with Dallas, Aubrey has earned a Pro Bowl selection in each of his first three years with the team. He has converted 127 of 146 field-goal attempts, including a long of 65 yards, and made 146 of 151 extra points.
One kick stands above the rest. In Week 2 of the 2025 season, the New York Giants took a 37-34 lead with just 25 seconds remaining after a long touchdown to Malik Nabers. “They just put the dagger in us where they scored a long touchdown to Nabers and he did the night-night celebration,” Aubrey said. “We had like 12 seconds to go get 10 yards, got it and then we were in field-goal position and that’s still a pretty coin-flippy field goal, maybe even less than a coin flip for historical statistics.”
Aubrey drilled the 64-yard attempt to force overtime. “To be able to go and hit that one through the uprights was awesome,” he said. He then capped the game by nailing a 46-yard field goal as time expired in overtime, sealing a 40-37 win for the Cowboys.
Away from the field, Aubrey said years of career changes took a toll on more than just his job title. He credited Invisalign, on whose behalf he spoke, with restoring his smile and his confidence. “If you smile, I think that shows a lot of your personality,” he said. “I didn’t take good enough care of it as a college athlete and a young adult and my smile shifted as well. I think Invisalign clear liners are a fantastic fit for me as I try to invest in my smile, my overall health, my confidence. You look good, you feel good, you play good.”
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