FRISCO, Texas -- The NFL's record for most field goals without missing to start a career was 18, set back in the 2015 season by Cleveland Browns kicker Travis Coons. Now, it's 19, and it belongs to Dallas Cowboys rookie kicker Brandon Aubrey. With Aubrey making his first field-goal attempt from 51 yards out at the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday, he is now in sole possession of the NFL's all-time record for most field goals without a miss to start a career.
Finding continuity at the kicker position has evaded the Dallas Cowboys since Pro Bowler Dan Bailey, the franchise's all-time leader in made field goals (186), departed for the Minnesota Vikings in 2018 after seven seasons with Dallas (2011-2017). They have cycled through Brett Maher (2018, 2019, 2022), Kai Forbath (2019) and Greg Zuerlein (2020-2021) since, but it appears the Cowboys have found their long-term future at the position with Aubrey, a 28-year-old rookie.
Most field goals made without missing to start NFL career
| Season(s) | Kicker | Made Field Goals Without Missing To Start Career |
|---|---|---|
| 2023 | DAL Brandon Aubrey | 19* |
2015 | CLE Travis Coons | 18 |
2014 | 17 | |
2012 | WAS Kai Forbath | 17 |
2019 | CLE Austin Seibert | 16 |
2008-2009 | 16 |
* Streak currently active
In Week 8, Aubrey's two made field goals from 58 and 27 yards out during the Cowboys 43-20 win against the Los Angeles Rams on Sunday has him tied as the NFL's all-time record-holder. The 58-yarder is also the longest made field goal by a rookie this season and the longest made field goal by a rookie since 2019, which was more than enough to make him the NFC Special Teams Player of the Week for Week 8. He also earned NFC Special Teams Player of the Month honors for draining all eight of his field goals without a miss.
"Yeah, not something I've thought a lot about, just trying to go out there and do my job," Aubrey said after the win against the Rams when asked about tying the record. "I've done it so far, and I hope to keep doing it in the future. I just want to go out there and make my kicks, so I'm not really concerned with much other than doing that."
The first of Aubrey's two made field goals against the Rams was from 58 yards out, the longest of his now eight-game NFL career.
"It felt great, anytime you get an opportunity to go out there and showcase your talent you want to go and prove it, so it felt good to get that opportunity and put it through the uprights," Aubrey said of his 58-yard kick that was right up the middle and would have been good from beyond 60.
Another NFL Sunday, another @Brandon_Aubrey BOOT 🥾🔥
— B2B CHAMPIONSTALLIONS 🏆🏆 (@USFLStallions) October 29, 2023
A season-high 58-yarder from the USFL Champ 💪 @dallascowboys pic.twitter.com/O9l8Yih7uJ
"He kicked that field goal after a sack, and we were actually in fourth down territory mode there," Dallas Cowboys head coach Mike McCarthy said postgame on Sunday. "That's the kind of resilience and kickback you have to have. It's all part of that complimentary football formula. The special teams picks up for the offense there. Excellent, excellent kick, he is really stroking the ball at a really high level right now."
Aubrey's age and maturity is high for rookie, but that's because the NFL is the third act of his professional sports career. The Plano, Texas native spent his college years playing soccer at Notre Dame as a defender where he totaled 15 goals in 76 games. His collegiate career led to a first-round draft selection to Major League Soccer in 2017 after he was chosen by Toronto FC. However, his time ran out a year later in 2018.
Fast forward four years to 2022, and Aubrey repurposed his leg for football, which immediately paid dividends. He became the USFL's top kicker for its best team, the Birmingham Stallions, connecting on 14 of his 15 field goals and all 35 of his extra points for the 2023 league champions. That performance made him noteworthy enough to be brought back home to Texas as a Dallas Cowboy where he competed with Tristan Vizcaino all offseason for the right to succeed the departed Brett Maher as the team's next kicker. Vizcaino, who had kicked for four NFL teams, was released on August 7, paving the way for Aubrey. Since, he has been literally perfect on his field goals, draining all 16, including the game-winner from 39 yards out in the Cowboys' 20-17 victory over the Los Angeles Chargers on "Monday Night Football" in Week 6.
"I feel like I didn't come in as a rookie," Aubrey said. "I feel more like a sophomore having played in the USFL for a couple years, but I know it's not exactly the same [as the NFL]. As a kicker, it kind of is the same. You just have your operation to deal with [the snap, hold and kick], but I didn't really feel the same way as when I was coming to my rookie year in the MLS. I'm more mature, I knew what to expect. I'm ready for what it meant to be a professional athlete, which I can't say was true of my MLS rookie year."
Prior to the start of the 2023 season, McCarthy has bestowed the highest compliment he could give a kicker that he coaches: comparing him to a young Mason Crosby. The now 39-year-old kicker played 16 seasons with the Green Bay Packers from 2007, McCarthy's second season as head coach with the Green Gold, through the 2022 season. Crosby is the Packers all-time leading scorer (1,918), all-time leader in made field goals (395), and all-time leader in extra points made (733). Crosby's 395 career made field goals and 753 extra points made are also the most in the NFL since his debut in 2007.
"He [Aubrey] can crush it," McCarthy said postgame after the Chargers win in Week 6. "He is so consistent. I enjoy watching him work. He is off to a great start. I don't know that I have seen a start like this in my time with a kicker."
McCarthy hasn't personally experienced a start like Aubrey's because what his rookie kicker is doing will go down in the NFL's all-time record books.
"Yeah, absolutely," Aubrey said when asking if he is having fun out there. "Just kicking one ball, doing my job. You got a field goal opportunity to go make, you just go and do your best to make that opportunity. That's [the record] something you don't think about. I have never been a big history guy, so I don't think about it."
"He is butter," Dallas Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott said of Aubrey postgame after defeating the Los Angeles Chargers 20-17 on "Monday Night Football in Week 6. "Butter Aubrey. Smooth, always has been since the day he showed up. I am a big fan of his game. I met and have known him years before he became a Dallas Cowboy. One of my best friends trains him. To know his story and following him when he was in the USFL and then for us to take a chance on him when we had another kicker [Tristan Vizcaino] in the preseason. He's an athlete playing kicker. When you have that, he has been a professional in soccer, in another football league and now in the NFL, he is mature as hell. Butter with it. Smooth. No surprise."
"I'm happy he [Prescott] has a good feeling for me," Aubrey said. He learned of the nickname in the locker room after practice Wednesday when chatting with local media. "I hadn't heard it before."
Perhaps one reason why Prescott is so forthcoming with his praise of Aubrey is because Aubrey's kicking coach, Brian Egan, was one of Prescott's best friends and teammates in college at Mississippi State. Aubrey getting connected with Egan was pure coincidence.
"My kicking coach is his [Prescott's] college roommate and best friend," Aubrey said. "I had met him [Prescott] a couple times before signing with the Cowboys, but other than that, no real prior relationship. I just googled kicking coaches in the Dallas area, and he was the first one to pop up. So, he had good software search optimization [SEO]."
He began working with Egan three months into his day job as a software engineer, and their training together while Aubrey was a regular member of America's work force went on for three years from 2019-2021 when his USFL opportunity came to fruition.
