People are saying Dallas Cowboys kicker Brandon Aubrey is declining, and declining quickly. But do the numbers actually tell that story? I don’t think they do. If anything, they point to a Cowboys problem that has nothing to do with Aubrey’s leg losing power.

You might have seen the stat pop up on social media. Aubrey ranks 26th among active NFL kickers in efficiency on field goal attempts of 50 yards or more. He’s 3-of-8 from that range in 2026. That comes out to a pretty hideous 37.5%. For a kicker who built his reputation on long-distance kicks, that sounds alarming.

Dig deeper, though, and a different reality emerges.

The Cowboys are asking Brandon Aubrey for too much

Aubrey’s average distance on attempts of 50 yards or more is 58 yards. The rest of the league sits at 54, per Sumer Sports. And of those eight attempts, five have come from 59 yards or longer.

Read that again. Dallas has sent Aubrey out for a field goal of 59 yards or more five times this season, and the Cowboys haven’t even played their Week 10 game yet.

For context, Jaguars kicker Cam Little is the only other kicker in the NFL with two such attempts. Everyone else has tried one at most. Aubrey has five.

Even by his standards, this is getting out of hand. He never had more than five attempts of 59-plus yards in 2023, 2024, or 2025. That’s his career high, and he’s already matched it through nine games.

I appreciate the 60-yard bombs Aubrey has delivered over the years. They’re part of his arsenal and a major reason why he’s the highest-paid kicker in the league. However, other kickers rarely try these for a reason. Those kicks usually come at the end of a half, when there’s no other option. For the Cowboys, the approach is different. Once they reach midfield, they seem comfortable slowing down and slipping into conservative mode, and it shows up in head coach Brian Schottenheimer’s play calling.

We saw it against the Colts. While setting up a 50-yard attempt, Dallas ran the ball on second-and-3. I somewhat understand that, given the clock situation. On third-and-3, though, the Cowboys took a deep shot down the right sideline, and it felt like they were fine with it falling incomplete. Worst case, Aubrey would hit a 50-yarder. Except the snap was off, the whole operation was off, and the kick missed.

That’s a shorter attempt, but it illustrates how the Cowboys think about Aubrey. He’s the highest-paid kicker in the league, and they treat him like some kind of demigod who can do what no one else in the NFL is doing.

Breaking down Aubrey’s eight long attempts

Here’s every attempt Aubrey has taken from 50 yards or more:

• Week 2: 60 yards, made  
• Week 3: 59 yards, blocked 
• Week 4: 50 yards, made  
• Week 4: 62 yards, blocked  
• Week 4: 65 yards, missed  
• Week 7: 55 yards, made  
• Week 8: 61 yards, missed  
• Week 9: 50 yards, missed

Two of those misses were blocks on 59-plus-yard tries. Some people argue a kicker has to get the ball high enough, so blocks are partly on him. Go watch the protection on those plays and tell me it’s on Aubrey. Dallas even changed the way it protects the kicker after those blocks.

Then there’s the 65-yarder. Anyone in the NFL is allowed to miss from 65 yards. Make it, and you deserve superhero treatment. Miss it, and nobody should be shocked. The same goes for the 61-yarder in Week 8.

That leaves the Week 9 miss from 50 yards out, the one where a poor snap derailed the entire operation. In other words, this isn’t what true decline looks like for a kicker. To me, this is more about the Cowboys being unrealistic with Aubrey. 

Cowboys need to beat the 49ers with Dak Prescott

As Dak Prescott said in the Sounds from the Sideline video that emerged from the Colts win, “Field goals are not gonna get it done.”

The Cowboys should change how they view Aubrey. Is he great? Yes. He’s one of the best kickers in the game. Are they being unrealistic with what they ask of him? I think so.

That matters in Week 10 against the San Francisco 49ers, who are 7-1. Don’t try to win this game with Aubrey. Win it with Prescott and the offense scoring touchdowns. The same goes for the rest of the season. It’s time for Brian Schottenheimer to redefine what his trust on Aubrey means. It’s great having a kicker that good. That changes if your comfort with him taking the field undermines your approach to putting points on the board.