FRISCO, Texas -- Not long after Brandon Aubrey arrives at Empower Field at Mile High in Denver on Sunday for the first time in his career, the Dallas Cowboys kicker will walk around the stadium, feeling the grass beneath his feet and finding his aiming points behind the goal posts.
A little later, he will go through his routine of kicks from varying distances, topping out at 58 yards.
"I'm not going to do anything different in my warmup, but I'll just take a note of where my normal [kicks] are going and if they look like they're going through an extra five yards," Aubrey said. "Then I'll pass that information along to the coach, and that's where we will draw our line at."
The 70-yard field goal attempt has become a magic number, and for Aubrey -- who owns the NFL record with six 60-yard field goals -- the first game in Denver's thin-air elevation makes the almost unthinkable possible.
The record for the longest field goal in NFL history is held by Justin Tucker, who made a 66-yarder for the Baltimore Ravens in 2021 inside Detroit's Ford Field. Aubrey has the second-longest field goal, a 65-yarder last year against the Baltimore Ravens at AT&T Stadium.
In 2013, Broncos kicker Matt Prater made a 64-yarder to break the 43-year-old mark set by Tom Dempsey (63 yards), in the thin air, although on a frigid day at what was then called Sport Authority Field at Mile High.
"No doubt in my mind he can do it," right tackle Terence Steele said of Aubrey. "I think he can do it consistently, too. That's the scary part. He can definitely hit those deep bombs for sure."
Said tight end Jake Ferguson, "I remember playing Madden Football back in the day and using the kicking slider's kick power all the way up to 100 just so I can make that field goal, and now he's doing it in real time."
But 70 yards is not something at the forefront of Aubrey's mind, this week or any week.
"No, I just want to be on the roster next week is all," Aubrey said.
Seriously? An NFL record holder? A two-time Pro Bowl selection? Arguably the best kicker in the game?
"You've never really made it as a kicker, especially, you know, rookie contract, no guarantees there," Aubrey said. "So, there's no reason. They're not invested in me beyond the week that I'm playing the game, so ..."
Aubrey, 30, is scheduled to be a restricted free agent after the season but is only in his fourth year of professional football. He was a former first-round pick in MLS before giving up his job as a software engineer to try his hand at kicking.
His dream was to make an NFL roster, not make the longest field goal in NFL history.
Although it should be noted, Aubrey is 5 of 7 from 60 yards or more in his career. The rest of the league is 10 of 27 since he entered the league in 2023, according to ESPN Research.
Two weeks ago at Lambeau Field, Cincinnati Bengals kicker Evan McPherson would have set the NFL record with a 67-yarder if not for a last-moment timeout from Green Bay Packers coach Matt Lafleur. McPherson's second attempt fell short.
McPherson said a 70-yarder in Green Bay was possible that day, and he believes that type of kick is in Aubrey's range.
"For Brandon especially, it's going to be pretty easy," McPherson said. "He's got to get put in the situation. Certainly, 70 to -- I would say -- 73 is definitely in the realm of possibility, especially for him. He's such an explosive kicker. Big dude and just has a lot of power."
In the preseason, Jacksonville Jaguars kicker Cam Little made a 70-yarder against the Pittsburgh Steelers on an 81-degree night at EverBank Stadium.
"It's obviously very situational dependent," Little said. "I think you see, specifically the Cowboys and the way their operation runs and the way their coaching staff coaches, [70 yards] is obviously a lot more likely. They trust him from, obviously, many a times from 60 plus ... And so I think with his talent, obviously his consistency, it's likely for him to probably break that record.
"And I've said this before to my friends and other guys that are the kickers in the league, guys are just getting so talented whether it's high school to college, college to the NFL now, and it's unbelievable how far they can kick the ball."
According to ESPN Research, kickers made 22% of their attempts between 50 and 59 yards in the 1970s. Dempsey's 63-yarder was the only successful kick on seven tries between 60 and 69 yards.
In the 2020s, kickers have made 827 of 1,1178 attempts from 50 to 59 yards (70%) and 25 of 64 attempts (39%) on kicks between 60 and 69 yards.
"It's crazy," said Cowboys special teams coach Nick Sorensen, who had a 10-year playing career as mostly a special-teamer. "It's amazing that these kickers are so good and their legs are so strong, and the operation is so good. Back then it was a little different. You could push [the snapper]. The rules were different, and I think you could get a little more penetration.
"But these guys are kicking the heck out of the ball, and it's not just one or two guys. There's quite a few because you see them in warmups every week."
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Aubrey has already had a chance at a 70-yarder. It came in Week 15 last season at Bank of America Stadium against the Carolina Panthers at the end of the first half. The kick was into a swirling breeze, and the attempt was short and hooked left.
"His approach was a little different. You see on tape, he did a little skip step, and he just tried to drive it," former Cowboys special teams coach John Fassel said a day after the game. "So it sure looked like a corner kick because it for sure swerved middle to the left ... He didn't intentionally [change his approach]. He deepened up a little bit."
On that kick, Aubrey's plant foot began 3 1/2 yards behind Bryan Anger's spot. The hitch, which Aubrey calls his load step, left him with a longer approach on his second step, leading to the pull.
In the Cowboys' Week 2 game against the New York Giants this season, he sent the game into overtime with a 64-yarder.
On the attempt, his plant leg was 3 yards deep at the set up. He rocked slightly backward at the snap, but his footwork was much better with his left foot slightly ahead of where Anger spotted the ball. The ball slightly faded to the right but was well inside the field goal post.
In the 61-yarder he made last week against the Washington Commanders, the mechanics were the same, and the ball split the uprights perfectly.
"I'm not a kicking expert," coach Brian Schottenheimer said, "but what amazes me is the ease in just the way the operation goes."
To Aubrey, a kicker's swing is a lot like a golfer's.
"The harder you swing, the harder it is to time up all the moving parts," Aubrey said. "I practice the same fluid, motion over and over and over and over again. So I've got that swing kind of ironed out pretty well and very confident in getting all those moving parts lined up properly at that tempo. But [if] you bring more tempo, you've got to bring the tempo with every single part."
He believes his soccer background helps with the longer kicks. As a center back, his best trait was pinpoint long-ball passes.
"I'm trying to let my body take over because it knows what to do, not overthink and say, 'Just look at the uprights,' and, 'OK, I need a little bit more,' I guess, and then the body delivers it."
And if he hits it just right, "I don't really feel any resistance," he said.
"I'm not dragging through the ground really hard. I've hit the sweet spot of the ball. It just kind of stays on my foot for a fraction of a second, and then it launches off."
Aubrey does not practice field goals from extra-long distances. He made a 66-yarder in a preseason game last year at Las Vegas' Allegiant Stadium. He said when "just messing around" he has made a 70-yard attempt on his own.
"I know from my normal form that I've got about 80% of my power put into it, and then going out onto the field on game day, you get a little more adrenaline," Aubrey said. "You can always change some things. You can hit a little bit higher on the ball and drive it a little bit more and sacrifice some height for some distance. So there are some things you can change.
"But I don't want to practice those things on a daily basis and have those creep into my normal swing because if you try and drive a little bit more, you give the defense a better chance of blocking it and your mishits when you're hitting the ball higher tend to be more pronounced as well."
There are so many variables for a 70-yard kick to even be attempted that McPherson, Little and Aubrey know. The game situation has to be correct. The weather has to be right, either little to no wind or a breeze at the kicker's back. A warmer temperature helps. In the cold weather, the leather does not compress as well.
Sunday's temperature in Denver is expected to be in the mid-60s around kickoff. Winds are expected to be 5-10 mph from the northwest.
Finally, the coach has to be willing to take the chance, likely at the end of the half or game. Mike McCarthy took the chance last year when he was the head coach.
Now it's up to Schottenheimer if all of the variables line up.
"We'll see how he practices. I don't know yet. He might not be very good. I don't know," Schottenheimer said, tongue firmly planted in cheek. "I think he'll probably be pretty good ... Altitude might make it interesting."
NFL Nation reporters Mike DiRocco and Ben Baby contributed to this report.