Brandon Aubrey is best-known as the highest-paid kicker in NFL history, having signed a four-year $28 million extension with the Dallas Cowboys in April.
Yet he entered the NFL as a 28-year-old rookie, having previously been a first-round pick as a center-back in the Major League Soccer Draft for Toronto FC.
His journey from futbol to football made him a perfect interviewee for The Athletic’s Why I Love The Beautiful Game series, where figures from popular culture explain their love of soccer.
Aubrey has lived a remarkable sporting life; first playing soccer at Notre Dame University, then earning a professional contract in Toronto.
Soccer was his first love. The upstairs corridor of the Aubrey family home in Plano, Texas, transformed into its own Maracana for Aubrey and his elder brother. “We called it hallway soccer,” he smiles. “We had a long hallway with a double door; one person kept goal and the other dribbled down and tried to score. He was just throwing me around. I had to figure out how to be tough real quick or else I’d get thrown through the walls.
“That’s how I learned to play soccer; upstairs, tight corridor, getting beat up by older kids, trying to find a way to compete.”
On the weekends, he played organized soccer; firstly three-on-three games as a five-year-old, working up to 11-vs-11 as the age groups advanced. He saw an individual skills coach to finesse his dribbling and ball control. His idols were Thierry Henry at Arsenal but also Clint Dempsey with the U.S. national team. “I wanted to be just like Henry. It felt like he could make a play out of thin air. Anytime he touched the ball, it was electric.
(Lluis Gene/AFP via Getty Images)
“Clint was skilful, powerful, not nearly as fast, but had grit anytime he was on the field. It felt like he would find a way to win a game no matter what it took and no one was ever gonna push him around. I wanted that mentality.”
He won a national championship at Notre Dame University in 2013 but at Toronto FC, he signed as a developmental player to be used in the second team. First-team opportunities were rare. “There was a point where a lot of the guys at my level were being called up for a Canadian Cup game. I got left behind. I realized I wasn’t likely to break through and that was a low point.”
He then played a year at Bethlehem Steel, an affiliate of MLS team Philadelphia Union, who at the time played in the USL Championship. He played alongside Leeds United’s USMNT playmaker Brenden Aaronson, who was then a teenager. “The ball just stuck to his foot,” Aubrey recalls. “He made all of the guys on that USL side look inadequate.”
Aubrey in action for Bethlehem Steel (Photo provided by Brandon Aubrey)
By 2018, aged 23, he quit soccer altogether, deciding to retrain as a software engineer. Then, one Sunday, he was watching an NFL game with his now-wife Jenn.
“She could tell I wasn’t happy. Then it just hit her. She said: ‘Hey, I think you could do that’.
That was the placekicker position in the NFL. Aubrey was initially dismissive.
“Do you know how much effort and energy and skill it takes to be a professional athlete?” he shot back. “You have seen me try it and fail (already)?”
“I thought she was a little bit crazy. But we grabbed the ball and went out to a local high school field and tried it. I was good all the way back to 60 yards without any training or any proper form. So I figured: ‘Let’s give it a go’.”
Aubrey kicked in both elementary school and middle school, but it had never really registered that kicking alone could be a job. “I thought the wide receiver comes in and hits a field goal or an extra point when you need it. Even though I enjoyed playing the game, it was clear soccer was my path over being a D1 wide receiver.”
After encouragement from Jenn, he found Brian Egan, a performance kicking coach, via an online search. He attended Egan’s free middle-school and high-school coaching sessions. He worked on it for three years, re-learning how to shape and strike a ball. He went to kicking competitions; vying against guys who were fresh out of college or who had been cut from the league.
He would often be among the best performers but scouts complained Aubrey did not have a bank of video footage like his rivals, as he had not played in high school, college or professionally. Then, the USFL (United States Football League) appeared and he joined the Birmingham Stallions. He made 32 of 37 field goal attempts in his first two seasons, and then came the call from the Cowboys…
Could other soccer players make the transition? The England and Bayern Munich striker Harry Kane has been on the record saying it is “at the back of his mind” to change codes one day.
(Michael Regan – The FA/The FA via Getty Images)
“It’s definitely possible,” Aubrey says. “It’s just there’s only 32 jobs. So even if you have the ability, it’s trying to get somebody to give you an opportunity. That’s what took me the longest. I was training for three years before the USFL popped up. If that never happened, I would still be probably banging my head into the wall trying to get a job in the NFL.”
Aubrey’s soccer skills were transferable. He was a set-play specialist, taking penalty kicks, which is not dissimilar to the pressure of kicking in the NFL.
“If you strike a soccer ball a million times, it’s going to translate to striking a football,” he says. “You have got to figure out where to hit the football and how to shape your foot. The mental aspect of taking a set piece or a penalty is very similar to taking a field goal.”
(Stacy Revere/Getty Images)
Does he not get nervous? “I do!” he laughs.
“The first time I stepped foot on a football field in the USFL for an extra point, my legs were shaking and all I could think was: ‘Don’t miss’. I knew that wasn’t the right way to do it. Through my time as a penalty taker, I had two breaths and then went. That worked. I had a mental coach at Notre Dame teach me that.
“For kicking, I needed to think through a mental process on the fly. I had a call with one of my kicking coaches, John Carney, who helped me map it out.”
He adds: “Now, I have a well-rehearsed mental exercise that I go through as I’m walking onto the field. I do breathing exercises on the sideline when there is an obvious kicking situation. I guide my self-talk to remind myself that I’ve kicked a ball a million times. You tell myself you’re the best kicker in the world. Whether or not it’s true, you keep saying it. Then you walk onto the field, and I come on the field from about 50 yards behind where I’m gonna kick it.
“That little trick makes the uprights look like they’re getting bigger as you walk out there, so it feels like your job is getting easier. Then I’m telling myself exactly what I need to do to make contact with the ball. Three steps back, two steps over the line, my hips, there’s my target line, there’s a little bit of wind, so we gotta aim a little bit to the opposite direction. Is there a little bit of a scuff on the ground that we want to avoid?
“By thinking about the process, you’re focused on everything you need to to succeed, instead of the result.”
Does he have any superstitions? He says many specialists fall into very “specific routines” because they tend to think that if one thing is always the same, then the next thing will be consistent too. “But I don’t want to be thinking: ‘Oh my Gosh, I didn’t eat two eggs over-easy for breakfast today and now my plant foot is going to be in the wrong spot’.
“The only thing I do consistently on game days is listen to Chris Stapleton. It keeps me relaxed and keeps my heart rate low. If I get too high, things get out of whack. Maybe my hips fire too fast and I pull the ball. If I burn up energy too fast, I’m not going to have much in the tank.”
Country music star Chris Stapleton performing in 2025 (Astrida Valigorsky/WireImage)
The World Cup this summer will see penalty shoot-outs. Does Aubrey have any advice on high-pressure kicks for soccer players?
“I always picked a spot and put it there with pace. Then… just don’t think about the moment, don’t think about what the kick means. Think what you need to do to make the proper contact. You have got to rehearse it and know what you’re going to do before you get out there. I’m not one who liked to stare down the goalkeeper and make a decision at the last second. I always struggled with that. Pick your spot. If it changes from kick to kick, that’s fine, but rehearse that and know what you’re going with.”
For Aubrey, it has already been a spring of soccer celebration, as his team Arsenal won the Premier League for the first time in 22 years. He was an anxious observer, fearing the old demons would return and the team would slip up. As a set-piece specialist, what does he make of Arsenal’s emphasis on them?
“I took set pieces incredibly seriously. I enjoyed a coach that would take them seriously and really rehearse them. I enjoy watching it. I know a lot do not view it as soccer in its purest form but when you’re competing, these are ways to gain marginal benefits. If you become dangerous on set pieces, that incentivizes the opponent to not give you those set pieces. Then they play more of the game instead of fouling any time they are in danger of conceding a chance. I appreciate it.”
As for his country’s chances at the World Cup, they are short on center-backs. How about a swing back to soccer? “I’d get toasted!” he laughs. He admits American expectations have been dampened by patchy form leading up to the tournament. He has France, Spain and England as favorites rather than the USMNT.
“But the home fans will bring excitement and home field advantage,” he says. “If we get out of the group stage, anything can happen. It’s a tournament. The best team doesn’t always win. We have such a talented batch of playersm so they can just put it together on the field. There’s no reason they can’t make the quarterfinals. From there, anything’s possible.”