00:00How Brandon Aubrey put the Dallas Cowboys in a position where they had to overpay for the least valuable position
00:06in football.
00:07Let's talk about it here in Below the Belt, which is brought to you by Window Nation.
00:11I'm half kidding.
00:12I mean, here's my official position, because I've had some people tweet at me about this where they'll say,
00:18Why do you hate Aubrey? Why do you just... I don't.
00:21I think Brandon Aubrey's great. I think Brandon Aubrey deserves...
00:24It's like me with Kyrie.
00:26He deserves his money. I just don't want my team to be the one to pay for it.
00:29Like, that's the thing. I would never devote those resources to anybody.
00:33It's not a Brandon Aubrey thing.
00:34If you told me this was a 100% of the time accurate kicker who never missed,
00:40I would still not want to be the one paying him the highest amount of money.
00:43I just don't want to do it. I don't think that's a valuable use of resources, personally.
00:47Especially when it was initially talking about going $3 million over the rest of the market.
00:53And they were talking about getting a $10 million contract.
00:55And I think the Stafford deal got redone, or a one-year extension,
00:58and it's still... I think it's still five below Dax.
01:02Yeah, it is.
01:0455 to 60.
01:05Oh!
01:06You guys...
01:07Aging poorly, not from a production standpoint,
01:11even though a lot of people say he's still not a $60 million quarterback,
01:14you just don't want that contract to be sitting there.
01:17Top of market that long.
01:19That looks bad.
01:20It looks like you misread it.
01:21It's the old line about the market always resets itself, and everybody knows that.
01:28They said, that's fine.
01:30Play within those bounds.
01:31Don't...
01:31You can be the market setter.
01:33Don't be the market corrector.
01:35If you correct the market, you have screwed up.
01:37And the Cowboys, to this point, have corrected the market on quarterbacks.
01:41The Cowboys corrected the market on running backs when they signed Zeke to his deal.
01:45And so, you don't ever want to be the one paying that deal
01:50and then making the rest of the NFL go,
01:52Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.
01:53Hold on.
01:54Let's start re-evaluating these deals, because nobody's going to pay that.
01:57And so, that's where you can get yourself into some trouble.
02:00But, Brandon Aubrey is a fantastic story.
02:04Brandon Aubrey is a fantastic kicker.
02:06And Brandon Aubrey is...
02:08And I like him, too.
02:10Yeah, I was going to say, in the experiences we've had with him,
02:11we had him at Super Bowl two years ago with Zach Martin.
02:14Really nice guy.
02:15Really likable individual.
02:17Really down-to-earth dude.
02:19And Calvin Watkins had this article up,
02:21and I thought it was pretty good over at Dallas Morning News.
02:24It says,
02:24Brandon Aubrey is part of a kicking revolution.
02:27Kickers are making field goals from 55 yards or longer,
02:29much easier than in years past.
02:31In 2025, NFL kickers attempted a whopping 22 field goals from 60 yards or more.
02:37Remember, like, 20 years ago, 25 years ago,
02:40how it was like, if you even had one during a season,
02:42you were like, holy cow, somebody's about to kick a 60-yarder.
02:45Yeah.
02:45And it was like this, like, buzz.
02:47Now it's kind of like, why don't they kick it?
02:48Why are they punting for midfield?
02:49They should just try to kick the ball.
02:52NFL kickers, also in 2025,
02:54there were 182 field goals that were made from 50 yards or more.
02:58That's 24 more than there were in 2023 season,
03:01but fewer than the 195 from the 2024 season.
03:04I bet if we went back and looked at that from, like, 05, though,
03:06it would be extremely different.
03:08It says,
03:16And I'll just pause there before we get to the rest of this.
03:21I know that's my shot at Aubrey, like, kind of jokingly.
03:26It's more just at the kicking position in general, what I think it does.
03:30How much is that?
03:31I know you aren't as concerned as I am about it,
03:34but how much of your concern is, yes, you can get points where you would normally punt,
03:39but I'm concerned about what's happening in downs 1, 2, 3 leading up to that,
03:43if you're doing everything or if you're settling.
03:45Do you ever feel like that?
03:47Do you feel like the Cowboys settle at all whenever they're kicking?
03:51Yeah, a little bit.
03:53I felt like McCarthy settled more, but I would have to go back in third-down situations
03:59to see what the play call was to judge the settlement versus bad execution of the play not working.
04:07Yeah, and I think I would—I've got to find—
04:09What did you make of what Schottenheimer told you at the Combine when you brought it up to him?
04:13I didn't think he answered it, really.
04:15I think he just said he's a weapon.
04:17You view him as a crutch, we view him as a weapon.
04:19Because he didn't really—he just talked about how great Brandon Aubrey was,
04:22and I was like, well, yeah, I didn't think Brandon Aubrey wasn't great.
04:25My problem is that he is great,
04:26and I think that that leads for a little bit of comfort and safety in,
04:33hey, let's just not try to push this.
04:35Like, let's not take any unnecessary risks here
04:37because we don't want to walk out of here with no points when we could have three.
04:41And so I think that there's a tendency to do that with every coach.
04:44That's not a Schottenheimer-specific issue.
04:47That's a lot of coaches do that.
04:49And that's why I need to go back.
04:51I need to find an efficient way to study the play calling
04:55on the three plays before a field goal for Aubrey last year.
04:59He kicked so many of them, it would take a long time.
05:00But I've got to find out, because I think third down is a big thing.
05:04I also want to know, what were you calling on second?
05:06Yeah.
05:06Like, were you in second and nine, and you called a run play
05:10that got stopped for two and then put you in third and seven?
05:14So it was like, how are you, are you basically pulling the reins back?
05:18Right.
05:19But he talks about that Aubrey O's...
05:21Oh, we got some drama developing in the NFC East.
05:27What is it?
05:28I'm going to tease it.
05:29Oh.
05:30I'm going to tease it for...
05:30I think that's what you do.
05:32Maybe nine o'clock.
05:33We'll do it at nine o'clock.
05:34Ooh.
05:34Jackson Dart and a Giants team meeting has taken place.
05:39I can't wait for that.
05:41Calvin Watkins over at the Dallas Morning News writes that Aubrey
05:44has much of his success going from professional soccer player
05:46to NFL kicker to kicking coach Brian Egan,
05:49the founder of Performance Kicking Academy.
05:51So Aubrey found him by accident.
05:53Or not totally by accident, I guess.
05:55It found him by good fortune.
05:57So his wife, Jen, we've all heard the story.
06:02They've got football on TV one weekend
06:04while he's working as a software engineer.
06:06He had been an MLS player before.
06:08He obviously went to Notre Dame.
06:10And his wife says, you could do that.
06:12She's watching something.
06:13Can you go, why don't you do that?
06:15So she kind of started nudging him a little bit.
06:17And he literally just was Googling kicking coaches around DFW.
06:21And that's one that he found.
06:22He's like, okay.
06:23And he jumped on it.
06:24And he said, I couldn't have done it without him.
06:26Obviously, I made a commitment to him and to myself financially.
06:29Aubrey said of Egan after signing this contract.
06:31And as a man, I said I was going to do something.
06:33Show up every day and work toward the goal.
06:35And he made the same commitment to me.
06:37He showed up as much as I did and put in as much effort as I did
06:40and helped me to get where I wanted to be.
06:43Says that to make sure he continues his path,
06:45Aubrey teamed with Egan and occasionally with Trackman Football,
06:48which helps kickers improve by providing video analytics
06:51from practices and games.
06:53The Cowboys use Trackman Football,
06:54but they only use it for their quarterbacks.
06:56They don't use it for the kickers.
06:57So Aubrey's using that independently by himself.
07:00Simon Matheson, who's the head of technology at Trackman Football,
07:03said to the general public, everybody thinks kicking is so easy.
07:06Why is it the position that most high schools around the country struggle at?
07:09Trackman has found success in golf and baseball primarily by tracking the ball
07:13with radar.
07:14For football, kickers from all levels send kicks through the uprights,
07:17if possible, and check out the data from cameras positioned behind them.
07:20The cameras track the speed of the ball, the height of the ball,
07:22the trajectory, and how fast the ball spins.
07:24The consistency that Trackman Football told Calvin,
07:29the kicking, like how consistent the kicking is.
07:33It's not like a, let's kick it harder every time.
07:36Let's do this.
07:36There's like a curve that it goes on.
07:38The average kicker sends the ball 70.3 miles per hour when they kick it.
07:42It says any more or less tends to lead to misses.
07:46Kickers based on Trackman data have 1.3 seconds to kick a ball
07:49that is placed within seven yards behind the line of scrimmage.
07:51The average height is 11.9 feet.
07:54The average highest apex is 43.6 feet.
07:56It doesn't matter how long or short the kick is.
07:58That is the consistency every single time.
08:01And that was one of the things about one third of the teams now use this
08:04technology to help their kickers.
08:05Like I said, Cowboys haven't done it yet.
08:07But Aubrey said that the biggest change for him coming away from soccer
08:12was surprisingly enough, the consistency of it.
08:15So he said, I had no idea the level of scrutiny you put yourself under as a
08:19professional kicker.
08:20You put yourself in the same position every time.
08:22As a soccer player, the ball is coming at you a million different ways.
08:26You never get in the set routine and how you're going to strike the ball.
08:28You have your mechanics based on what you're trying to accomplish as a kicker.
08:32You have to start from square one.
08:33You have your steps and finding a way to get into a comfortable position.
08:36It's a repeatable process, which there's some, I would imagine,
08:41baseline expectation there that makes it easier for Aubrey to then playing soccer.
08:45Like he says, like I've got a million different ways I can come at it.
08:47It's like a golfer.
08:48I've got this kind of shot I can do, different things like that.
08:50No, with kicking, he's saying, no, this is, you have your mechanics,
08:54which have to be perfect and have to lock in every single time.
08:58Aubrey spent many days, Calvin writes, working on his steps while attempting
09:01kicks, whether it was in the garage, the living room, or on a practice field
09:04with Egan.
09:05Aubrey's journey towards becoming an NFL kicker began with it when his wife
09:08encouraged him to try football as the two were watching an NFL game.
09:10She told him he was good enough to kick.
09:12He went ahead, went on the internet searches.
09:15One of the main things Egan has told Aubrey is to remain consistent.
09:17Trackman football is a great aid toward that end with many kickers,
09:20whether they want to use the technology or not.
09:22Egan said it wasn't about teaching how to swing his leg.
09:25It's more like, how do I hit the ball the same way?
09:27How do I finish the ball the same way?
09:29How do we get to our spot with our steps very well?
09:31Every kick is a straight kick.
09:33It's the same whether you're in high school or college,
09:34making sure you hit the same spot in college.
09:36And I think that's the thing that, if anything,
09:39Aubrey deserves a lot of credit for.
09:42I mean, he deserves a ton of credit for just getting to where he did
09:44as quickly as he did.
09:45He is a marvel.
09:46Yep.
09:47But take a guy like Brett Maher, who was the...
09:52I've never felt worse for a player than when Brett Maher missed all those
09:55extra points against Tampa, because it is considered such a mental position
10:03because of those specifics that Aubrey talked about, that, man,
10:07going into it and basically changing professions and having to be that
10:10perfect every time is a marvel that Aubrey is as consistent with that
10:15and those mechanics as he has been compared to guys who haven't done it
10:18for forever.
10:19Because Maher had one kick that missed, got in his head about it,
10:22and all of a sudden just was broken for the next couple weeks.
10:27I just want to know why Aubrey pulls the jersey down, the shoulder pads down,
10:31the tug.
10:31I want to know the neck tug and what he does.
10:34Is that an alignment thing?
10:35Is it a balance thing, or is it just a tradition repetition thing,
10:40a nervous thing?
10:40Almost like the toe tap with Josh Hamilton, where at first they said,
10:45you can eliminate the toe tap from your batting stance.
10:48It's a useless timing mechanism.
10:50Well, then he had all these problems, and Clint Hurdle told him to put it back
10:53in because he's like, if it's a comfort thing and it just helps your mechanics
10:55feel comfortable, do it.
10:57But I wonder if that's like, is it dipping your shoulder down?
11:01I want to ask Brandon Aubrey that next time.
11:04And he deserves a ton of credit for his mental toughness and the ability to
11:10repeat his process because that is a mentally difficult position.
11:14Dan Bailey here famously had some problems.
11:18He was dealing with some stuff that had nothing to do with on the field.
11:22Was it disclosed?
11:24No.
11:25But he was just dealing with some stuff in his life.
11:28It wasn't super dramatic, but it was just like it was a distraction.
11:33And the problem became so much or it became like what a commercial break this is going
11:38to be.
11:39People around the team felt like, oh, OK, like this might have just messed with his
11:43mental process a little bit to where he can't replicate that perfection as consistently.
11:47And it became an issue.
11:49And that's what's really incredible about Brandon Aubrey to me more than anything else
11:52is his ability to be consistent every time.
11:54Below the bell.
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