The Chiefs are sticking with Harrison Butker, even as the misses keep piling up.
Kansas City’s kicker has already missed six field goals and one extra point this season, a rough stretch for one of the highest paid kickers in NFL history. Still, the coaching staff isn’t ready to move on. Andy Reid has continued to stand by Butker, and special teams coordinator Dave Toub doubled down on that support Thursday.
“Butker is our kicker,” Toub said. “We are paying Butker.
Butker has won a lot of football games for us. Butker is a champion.
He deserves the right to be exhausted on this thing. We are going to exhaust every possibility with him.”
The Chiefs did bring in another kicking option in Justin Tucker, though the move came with plenty of controversy. In early 2025, 16 women alleged that Tucker engaged in sexual misconduct during and after massage sessions with them, the Baltimore Banner reported at the time. Tucker had been released by the Baltimore Ravens ahead of last season and has not played for a team since.
For now, though, the job still belongs to Butker. The 5-2 Chiefs are carrying a two-game losing streak into this weekend’s matchup with the New York Jets, and Butker’s misses were part of both defeats.
He missed two field goals against the Seattle Seahawks and another against the Denver Broncos. Kansas City lost both games by more than those kicks, so the misses didn’t flip the outcomes, but they did add to a growing concern around his accuracy.
If the struggles continue against the Jets, the conversation around the Chiefs’ kicking situation could look very different next week.
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