{"id":89340,"date":"2025-09-07T11:41:15","date_gmt":"2025-09-07T11:41:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=89340"},"modified":"2025-09-07T11:41:15","modified_gmt":"2025-09-07T11:41:15","slug":"brandon-aubrey-embraces-surprise-role-as-cowboys-captain-with-bold-message-hopefully-it-makes-them-better","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=89340","title":{"rendered":"Brandon Aubrey Embraces Surprise Role as Cowboys Captain With Bold Message \u2018Hopefully It Makes Them Better"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<ul>\n<li><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/a.espncdn.com\/combiner\/i?img=\/i\/columnists\/full\/archer_todd.png&amp;h=80&amp;w=80&amp;scale=crop\" alt=\"'Hopefully it makes them better': Kicker Brandon Aubrey on leading Cowboys as a captain\" width=\"40\" height=\"40\" \/>\n<p>Todd ArcherSep 7, 2025, 06:00 AM ET<\/p>\n<div>\n<p>Close<\/p>\n<ul>Todd Archer is an NFL reporter at ESPN and covers the Dallas Cowboys. Archer has covered the NFL since 1997 and Dallas since 2003. He joined ESPN in 2010.<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<p>FRISCO, Texas &#8212; When Brian Schottenheimer announced the Dallas Cowboys captains in a team meeting, most of the names were not a surprise.<\/p>\n<p>Dak Prescott. CeeDee Lamb. Osa Odighizuwa. C.J. Goodwin. The surprises, at least from the outside, were safety Donovan Wilson and Brandon Aubrey, the Pro Bowl kicker.<\/p>\n<p>For Aubrey, who began playing football about five years ago after a spell in professional soccer, it was a <em>wow<\/em> moment when Schottenheimer called him up to the front of the room and handed him the captain&#8217;s patch that will be on his jersey.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;It&#8217;s a big honor to be selected by teammates, to represent the team as a leader,&#8221; Aubrey said. &#8220;Kind of just shows that they respect me and that they think I did a good job at my job, and that I handle my business the right way.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I want to go and take that trust and responsibility seriously and show the guys they made the right choice.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Aubrey was a captain for the Dallas Texans, his club soccer team growing up, but he wasn&#8217;t the captain for his high school team or at Notre Dame. Aubrey is one of the few kickers in the league to be selected a seasonlong captain. Jake Elliott of the Philadelphia Eagles and Cairo Santos of the Chicago Bears are two of the others.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I just wanted to make a team,&#8221; Aubrey said at the beginning of his football journey. &#8220;I was desperate to get any opportunity and now I&#8217;ve got the opportunity, done well, come a long way, and I just want to keep stacking success. I think that motivates me to keep going and keep seeing where this thing can go.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Aubrey is set to be a restricted free agent at the end of this season, but the Cowboys have yet to make an approach regarding a contract extension. His on-field r\u00e9sum\u00e9 is good enough to warrant one. Now he has an off-field one with being named captain.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I&#8217;m sure there will be times when Schotty calls us up to say something,&#8221; Aubrey said. &#8220;Definitely going to go home and think about what drives me, and try and make any message I have to give come from the process that I&#8217;ve done to get here and perform the way I have. And just share the insights into my brain that have helped me perform, and hopefully guys can take or leave anything that I say. If they take it, hopefully it makes them better.&#8221;<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h2>Five questions with Jalen Tolbert<\/h2>\n<p>Let&#8217;s get to know the fourth-year wide receiver a little bit better.<\/p>\n<p><em>If you weren&#8217;t playing football, what would you be doing?<\/em><\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Playing baseball. Hopefully somewhere in MLB. Outfielder. Played it growing up. I didn&#8217;t start football until 11th grade of high school, so I was a big baseball player. Yankees. Derek Jeter used to be my favorite player.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><em>What&#8217;s your favorite football memory? <\/em><\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Definitely the game-winning touchdown in Pittsburgh last year. Honestly, haven&#8217;t looked at it much now, but definitely that was my favorite play so far.&#8221;<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u2014 NFL (@NFL) October 7, 2024<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><em>What&#8217;s your prized possession? <\/em><\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Honestly my family. I know it&#8217;s a wide answer, but I&#8217;d do anything to protect them and take care of them, and I love them to death.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><em>Why did you pick No. 1 for your uniform? <\/em><\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Just to get myself to be one of one every day and challenge myself to be 1% better every day. Find a way to get better, whether it&#8217;s blocking, route running, helping a teammate grow, whatever it is. Finding a way to find the 1% to get better at.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><em>What teammate over the year impacted you the most? <\/em><\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Brandin Cooks. He just taught me the layout of the game honestly, the politics that come with this, how to take care of your body. And then the on-field stuff, he&#8217;s seen stuff over his 11 years playing. And he made sure to give me any tip &#8230; to make myself a better football player, a smarter football player. Just having a guy like that that believes in you and sees a lot in you even when other people don&#8217;t, it&#8217;s special.&#8221;<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h2>What&#8217;s in a number?<\/h2>\n<p>One of the things the Cowboys liked about Donovan Ezeiruaku in the draft process was his maturity.<\/p>\n<p>Ezeiruaku&#8217;s jersey, No. 41, might not be prototypical for a pass rusher. Asked leading into Thursday&#8217;s season opener, a 24-20 loss to the Eagles, if he was sticking with the number, he said, &#8220;We&#8217;re working on that.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Since he wore the number Thursday, he will be in No. 41 for the rest of the season. A few days after Micah Parsons was traded to the Green Bay Packers, he was asked if he would take Parsons&#8217; No. 11.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Nah, I ain&#8217;t taking 11,&#8221; he said. &#8220;Nah.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The second-round pick wants to make his own mark with a number of his own.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>For the first time since his youth club soccer team, Aubrey is a captain.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":89344,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-89340","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nfl"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Brandon Aubrey Embraces Surprise Role as Cowboys Captain With Bold Message \u2018Hopefully It Makes Them Better - NEWS USA<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=89340\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Brandon Aubrey Embraces Surprise Role as Cowboys Captain With Bold Message \u2018Hopefully It Makes Them Better - NEWS USA\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"For the first time since his youth club soccer team, Aubrey is a captain.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=89340\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"NEWS USA\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-09-07T11:41:15+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/avtvip-24-2.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"900\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"900\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"MrThanh\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"MrThanh\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=89340\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=89340\",\"name\":\"Brandon Aubrey Embraces Surprise Role as Cowboys Captain With Bold Message \u2018Hopefully It Makes Them Better - NEWS USA\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=89340#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=89340#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/avtvip-24-2.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-09-07T11:41:15+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-09-07T11:41:15+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/#\/schema\/person\/850fd1b8bcb1d322b7f0a04b3d2f18ec\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=89340#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=89340\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=89340#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/avtvip-24-2.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/avtvip-24-2.jpg\",\"width\":900,\"height\":900},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=89340#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Brandon Aubrey Embraces Surprise Role as Cowboys Captain With Bold Message \u2018Hopefully It Makes Them Better\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/\",\"name\":\"NEWS USA\",\"description\":\"Your Daily Dose of Sports News and Updates\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/#\/schema\/person\/850fd1b8bcb1d322b7f0a04b3d2f18ec\",\"name\":\"MrThanh\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8c8f2d90ff2a21a61a5e6bc0619622a5021fc65353885d9d7b3db1c8c7c1ca8d?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8c8f2d90ff2a21a61a5e6bc0619622a5021fc65353885d9d7b3db1c8c7c1ca8d?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"MrThanh\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?author=6\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Brandon Aubrey Embraces Surprise Role as Cowboys Captain With Bold Message \u2018Hopefully It Makes Them Better - NEWS USA","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=89340","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Brandon Aubrey Embraces Surprise Role as Cowboys Captain With Bold Message \u2018Hopefully It Makes Them Better - NEWS USA","og_description":"For the first time since his youth club soccer team, Aubrey is a captain.","og_url":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=89340","og_site_name":"NEWS USA","article_published_time":"2025-09-07T11:41:15+00:00","og_image":[{"width":900,"height":900,"url":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/avtvip-24-2.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"MrThanh","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"MrThanh","Est. reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=89340","url":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=89340","name":"Brandon Aubrey Embraces Surprise Role as Cowboys Captain With Bold Message \u2018Hopefully It Makes Them Better - NEWS USA","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=89340#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=89340#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/avtvip-24-2.jpg","datePublished":"2025-09-07T11:41:15+00:00","dateModified":"2025-09-07T11:41:15+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/#\/schema\/person\/850fd1b8bcb1d322b7f0a04b3d2f18ec"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=89340#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=89340"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=89340#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/avtvip-24-2.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/avtvip-24-2.jpg","width":900,"height":900},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=89340#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Brandon Aubrey Embraces Surprise Role as Cowboys Captain With Bold Message \u2018Hopefully It Makes Them Better"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/","name":"NEWS USA","description":"Your Daily Dose of Sports News and Updates","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/#\/schema\/person\/850fd1b8bcb1d322b7f0a04b3d2f18ec","name":"MrThanh","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8c8f2d90ff2a21a61a5e6bc0619622a5021fc65353885d9d7b3db1c8c7c1ca8d?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8c8f2d90ff2a21a61a5e6bc0619622a5021fc65353885d9d7b3db1c8c7c1ca8d?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"MrThanh"},"url":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?author=6"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89340","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=89340"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89340\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":89345,"href":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89340\/revisions\/89345"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/89344"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=89340"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=89340"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=89340"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}