Cam Little was still playing defensive midfield in soccer when plenty of future NFL kickers were already working on field goals. Less than a decade later, Jacksonville trusted his right leg from distances that once looked almost unreasonable: 68 yards against Las Vegas on November 2, 2025, then 67 against Tennessee on January 4, 2026. Brandon Aubrey reached Dallas by an even less conventional route: Notre Dame soccer, the professional game, a software-engineering job, then placekicking. Two of the league’s strongest legs came out of soccer without following anything close to the standard football pipeline.
Dallas Found Its Kicker on a Soccer Résumé
Aubrey played four seasons at Notre Dame, recording 15 goals in 76 appearances as a defender before Toronto FC selected him 21st overall in the 2017 MLS SuperDraft. After his professional soccer career ended, he worked as a software engineer and spent more than two years retraining with kicking coach Brian Egan. Dallas signed him in 2023, and his first three NFL seasons produced three Pro Bowl selections. In April 2026, the Cowboys rewarded that path with a four-year, $28 million extension, making Aubrey the first NFL kicker with a $7 million annual salary.
Cam Little Stretched the Field to 68 Yards
Little did not start as a specialist. He was a defensive midfielder until age 16, then picked up football in Oklahoma, went on to Arkansas, and eventually became Jacksonville’s sixth-round selection in 2024. The distance came quickly once he reached the NFL. His 68-yarder against Las Vegas set the league record, and the 67-yarder against Tennessee sits right behind it. Then came Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on October 11, 2026, where Little hit from 57 yards at the gun to beat Philadelphia 19-17 and push Jacksonville to 4-1.
A Kicker Changes the Math
Once a kicker is credible from 55 yards and beyond, the useful part of the field gets noticeably shorter. A drive that dies at the opponent’s 38-yard line no longer produces the same fourth-down decision, and the final minute of a half can be managed with a different target in mind. Fans reading Algerian sports betting (Arabic: رهان رياضي جزائري) markets can put kicker range beside wind, surface, field position, and a coach’s fourth-down habits when judging spreads, totals, or live prices. Little’s 68-yard make is an extreme case, but it gives a hard number to a specialist skill that can change both play-calling and the price of a close game.
The NFL Is Recruiting Specialists Directly
The league has built a formal route for international kicking talent. The International Player Pathway added specialists for the first time in 2024, covering field-goal kickers, punters, and kickoff specialists. German kicker Lenny Krieg came from soccer, switched to American football after the COVID-19 disruption, and later played for Stuttgart Surge before entering the pathway; at the 2025 NFL Combine, he made all 14 field-goal attempts from 35 to 55 yards. Atlanta signed him on March 28, 2025, and the NFL still lists him with the Falcons in the pathway program. The route is widening.
Soccer Supplies the Leg, Football Rewrites the Motion
The crossover works because the two sports share balance, rhythmic approach, and repeated ball striking, without demanding the same technique. Aubrey spent more than two years changing from what Dallas described as learning to kick a soccer ball “a million different ways” to striking a football with one repeatable field-goal motion. Soccer remains useful on kickoffs, where Aubrey has said his background helps him vary foot contact and ball flight. Little makes the comparison differently, describing placekicking as closer to a soccer set piece, with the contact point and follow-through still controlling the strike.
Arizona Saw the Route Years Earlier
Casey Skowron showed the same crossover in Arizona long before Aubrey became an NFL star. Skowron played soccer at Brophy Prep in Phoenix and joined its football team as a senior when it needed a kicker; he had also been recruited to play college soccer as a left midfielder. At Arizona, he served as a manager for the soccer program before joining the Wildcats football team. In 2014, Skowron led the Pac-12 with 123 points, making 20 of 28 field goals and all 57 extra points, an early Arizona example of soccer technique finding a second use between the uprights.
