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FRISCO, Texas — Dallas Cowboys special teams coordinator Nick Sorensen said Thursday that Brandon Aubrey has not changed since becoming the highest-paid kicker in NFL history. Four days earlier, Aubrey missed a 50-yard field goal off a low snap at Indianapolis.
Aubrey signed a four-year, $28 million extension in April with $20 million guaranteed, making him the first kicker to average $7 million per season. He was a Pro Bowl pick in each of his first three seasons.
With the game tied 20-20 and 3:34 left in the 27-23 win over the Indianapolis Colts, Aubrey pulled the 50-yard try wide left after long snapper Trent Sieg’s snap bounced before holder Bryan Anger got the ball down. The Colts then drove for Spencer Shrader’s 50-yard field goal and a 23-20 lead with 1:37 left.
Aubrey has made 17 of 22 field goals this season, a career-low 77.3%. Since the start of 2025, he has made 14 of his 25 attempts from 50 yards or longer, and he missed a 61-yard try against the Arizona Cardinals on Nov. 1.
None of it has Sorensen worried about his kicker.
“Because we know what he’s done,” Sorensen said. “He’s proven it, and he does it every day, and he’s pretty unwavering. So I believe it because I’ve seen it.”
Nick Sorensen On Brandon Aubrey And Trent Sieg
Sieg had more than one off-target snap at Indianapolis, including the one before Aubrey’s miss.
“Pretty much that. Yeah, bad day. A couple bad snaps,” Sorensen explained. “One that was, probably hasn’t done in 10 years in practice or in a game. So it’s, I see that as a one-off. Not gonna stress too much about it. We’re moving on and it won’t happen again.”
Aubrey’s deal runs through 2030, and Sorensen has not seen the money change him.
“I haven’t. Truthfully, I haven’t,” Sorensen said. “I think people think money changes people. I’ve always a firm believer that money will make you more of who you actually are. And I think if someone’s a generous person, they’re more generous. If people like extravagant things, then they buy extravagant things. I think it just amplifies what you already are. Because people say, ‘Oh, it changed you.’ No, I think it just kind of amplifies who you really are.”
“Brandon is steady. I think he’s unwavering. I think he’s, I’ve said it. I think he’s not high maintenance at all as a kicker, so I think that to me he’s still unaffected by it,” Sorensen continued. “The belief is still there for him. He wants to make more kicks, just like we want him to. Why? Because we all have the expectations. No one has higher expectations and belief in Brandon than he does. So I think that hasn’t changed. That’s why. Because I think that’s one of the greatest qualities about him. He is who he is, and things don’t affect him.”
Sorensen credits Anger for pinning punts short of the end zone instead of overkicking for distance.
“It shows a couple things,” Sorensen said. “I mean, obviously, those are big difference in yards when there’s a touchback, or being at the eight-yard line, that’s 12 yards. We’re always living in first downs. And it shows that he’s still accurate. Still selfless. He’s not trying to kick for, overkick something to try and be too greedy, and can still execute. So it’s really a credit to Banger.”
KaVontae Turpin, Camden Brown, And Dallas Cowboys’ Return Options
KaVontae Turpin was limited in practice Wednesday and Thursday with a rib injury, according to the team’s injury report. He has missed the last three games.
“I think it’s a little early to know for sure,” Sorensen said. “I know he’s working back. We’re trying to see how he’s feeling and how it’s progressing. So I think that’s something that we’ll figure out later in the week.”
Turpin has kept up with meetings and extra treatment while he waits, Sorensen said.
“He’s been great. He’s been coming to the meetings,” Sorensen said. “He’s doing everything he can. Anytime he needs to get extra treatment, he’s getting it. He’s doing everything. He wants to play. He’s a football player. He’s as tough as anybody, pound for pound, as we know.”
Undrafted rookie receiver Camden Brown returned a kickoff 28 yards at Indianapolis. Undrafted rookie Jordan Hudson, who played at SMU, was elevated from the practice squad for the game.
“I think it was cool. I think it’s been an interesting year,” Sorensen said. “You always have to be thinking ahead and training guys up. That was the first time he’s had a return, and then he was also back there with Hudson too. So it was first time Huddie back there. So it was cool to see two rookies, undrafted rookies back there that hadn’t really returned, but they’ve done it in the work in practice.”
“So they catch jugs every day post practice. They get the work in practice with the team, whether it’s look team or with our units,” Sorensen continued. “So they put the work in, and it started in the spring and really in training camp. It’s like Mingo last year. Mingo hadn’t had a punt return. He had no return history, but what they don’t realize is the hundreds and hundreds of catches he gets off of jugs and off the punts from Banger. So you have to prepare the right way for stuff like that to happen when it does.”
Receiver Jonathan Mingo, who returned a punt before Dallas’ first-half touchdown at Indianapolis, did not practice Wednesday or Thursday with an ankle injury. If Mingo cannot go, Sorensen’s punt-return options start with Brown and Hudson, and the list goes further.
“Any and a lot of skill guys. I make a point of, even guys that, any skill guy,” Sorensen said. “Hey, I say it’s added value for yourself and the team because if you’re on the roster, it’s like training any backup. You got to have added value. So if there’s an injury that someone can go back to to catch a punt. Cam catches them. Huddy has caught, I mean, pretty much all of them.”
“And Caleb Downs, obviously, he’s been doing it for a while, and he hadn’t done it his last year in college,” Sorensen continued. “But his first two years, he caught punts. So he’s been doing that since he got here. And also, CeeDee has history too. He did that when he was younger.”
Tight end Brevyn Spann-Ford and linebacker Shemar James are two of the players Sorensen singled out among those who have stepped up on special teams.
“I think there’s a lot of guys. I think someone asked me that last week, and I started naming names, and I felt bad because I feel like I forgot somebody, honestly,” Sorensen said. “Because you look back to, obviously there’s injuries like every team, so when, like Shemar was doing really good on kick return, punt return, punt, covering kicks, and now he’s the green dot. We use him when we, how we can. And so there’s next guys that step up.”
“I think there’s a whole list of guys that have really stepped up, and they get an opportunity. Brevyn. I think before I got here, I think the year before he had covered maybe five kicks on kickoff, and then the next year he’s top five in tackles, which was last year,” Sorensen continued. “And so it’s an opportunity to see who can be, what can you do, how you’re gonna produce. And he did that, and that when you get an opportunity, can you do it once, and then okay, let’s do it again. And once you do it five, six, eight times, then that’s who you are. That’s the player you are. So the league’s full of opportunities and guys that take advantage of them.”
Dallas releases its final injury report of the week Friday. The Cowboys (4-5) host the San Francisco 49ers (7-1) on Sunday at AT&T Stadium, with kickoff set for 3:25 p.m. CT on Fox.
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