Let me start this piece off with a short ode to a legendary Kansas City Chiefs kicker, Harrison Butker. A three-time Super Bowl champion who made big-time kicks after big-time kicks in the most high-pressure scenarios and games the NFL has to offer.
He's been one of the understated cogs of a Chiefs dynasty that, without his efforts, certainly would have looked much different. When it's all said and done, Butker will be selected into the Chiefs Hall of Honor, and rightfully so. And as of a couple of years ago was on a legitimate pace to make the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
With all that said, it's beyond time for Brett Veach and Andy Reid to begin looking for other options at the kicker position for the rest of the 2026 season and beyond. I've been holding off from saying this, quite honestly, all the way back to the 2025 campaign.
Just because of what Butker has done for the franchise, how much the team has invested in him financially, and the belief that I had in him to get out of his year-plus-long slump. Well, after six games this year, Butker is no longer in a slump. This may just be who he is now.
The Chiefs all-time great kicker has had a fall from grace like no other
Harrison Butker's 15 missed kicks (10 FGs, 5 PATs) since start of last season are the most in NFL.
— Josh Dubow (@JoshDubowAP) October 26, 2026
Through five games this year, Butker has made every single one of his 9 field goal attempts inside the 50-yard line. Where he struggled was from 50-plus, where Butker had hit just 1-for-4 from distance. Which, to be fair, is where lots of kickers tend to struggle. It's a farther kick, thus more difficult.
Well, he tacked on another two misses in tonight's loss versus the Seattle Seahawks, another from 50-plus and his first miss from closer, a 45-yard try. It's really the first game of the year that Butker's misses had a direct negative impact that truly mattered for the Chiefs. Had he made both or even one kick, he could have kept the Chiefs within one possession of tying or taking the lead.
Josh Dubow, with the above statistic, is really all you need to know about how poorly Butker has been, compared to his peers in the league. The single worst kicker in the league, going on 20-plus games. And for a guy who is getting paid top-five at his position with the most guaranteed money in his contract, it's simply unacceptable.
It's clear the Chiefs need to bring in other options at the position with true intent to pick the best guy, regardless of the paycheck they are receiving. The Chiefs can save roughly $5 million next year by cutting Butker altogether and $6 million in 2028. And if things do not drastically turn around, that's what Kansas City's brass needs to do.
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