For the duration of the Kansas City Chiefs' dynastic run, Harrison Butker has been through every part of it. In fact, he was in the same draft class as Patrick Mahomes in 2017, but unlike Mahomes, who was drafted 10th overall in the first round, Butker had to wait what probably felt like a lifetime to hear his name selected by the Carolina Panthers at 233rd overall in the seventh round.
Not five months later, Butker was cut by Carolina before he even played a regular-season snap. Former Chiefs general manager John Dorsey had the unbelievable foresight to claim Butker off the open market and sign the place-kicker out of Georgia Tech to a two-year, $1.02 million contract.
Due to a significant groin injury to Kansas City's current kicker, Cairo Santos, along with Butker's quick rise, the Chiefs waived Santos five games into the season, making way for Butker to prove himself. And boy did he. In his first season, Butker hit 38-42 field goals, missing just one from 40 yards in, and was a perfect 28-28 on extra points.
From that point on, Butker was a core part of not only the Chiefs' special teams unit, but when Mahomes took over as starter the following season in 2018, Butker made clutch kick after clutch kick, helping to propel this Chiefs team to heights few teams have ever been able to accomplish.
Butker enters year 10 ready to bounce back and prove himself after a down year
Butker's playoff stats speak for themselves, hitting 36-40 (90%) field goal attempts in 22 games and 67-70 (95.7%) on XP's. The 31-year-old now enters his 10th NFL season ready to prove that his latest four-year, $25.6 million extension won't be a contract the Chiefs soon regret.
His last two seasons have been somewhat of a slump, relative to his own greatness. This correlates with the Chiefs' offense playing poorly and not scoring near enough points in years past. He's averaged just over 85% on 63 field goal attempts, and last year's extra point production was the worst of his career, missing four chip shots.
Butker had been dealing with a knee ailment in 2024 in his left plant leg, which forced him to miss four games and get surgery to trim his meniscus. He came back healthy last year and looked strong, but he would still dip that left plant leg and hit his knee on the ground.
Hopefully, after another full offseason to recover and re-adjust his technique, the future Hall of Fame kicker can get back to performing at an elite level and help the Chiefs return not just to the playoffs, but Super Bowl greatness once again.
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