In this series, we will look at established players — virtual locks to make this year’s Kansas City Chiefs squad — with the most riding on the 2026 season.
Where do we even start with the longtime Chiefs’ kicker?
The league’s third-highest-paid kicker has to perform better than he did in 2025.
Long considered to have one of the league’s most clutch legs, the Chiefs could not consistently depend on Butker a year ago. To be fair, kicker mishaps are sometimes overmagnified. On field goal attempts, Butker was
probably not as bad as perceived last season. However, he definitely slipped from the top option at the position to league-average.
The kicker made a name for himself by being money on what were once considered insanely long field goal attempts. On attempts from over 50 yards, he was successful on five of eight tries with a longest successful kick of 59 yards. He missed only two of his 30 tries from inside 50 yards, and he was perfect on field goals from 40 yards out or less.
Butker’s 86.8% success rate would have been 13th among kickers who appeared in 10 or more games in 2025. That would be perfectly acceptable production for an average kicker making a back-of-the-roster salary.
Butker, on the other hand, was paid over $3.8 million in 2025 and is scheduled to earn $5.9 million (with a fully guaranteed base salary) in 2026.
While his field goal work a year ago was middling but acceptable, he was inexplicably bad on extra point attempts. Leaguewide, kickers had a 95.9% success rate on extra points. The play is so automatic that many fans miss it, going for a snack or running to the restroom after a touchdown.
Butker missed four extra points in 2025 (on 35 attempts) for a success average of 88.6%. This ranked 25th among kickers with ten or more appearances. Anecdotally, Chiefs fans will remember holding their breath for several of his nominally successful tries that seemed to barely stay inside the uprights.
The NFL’s new kickoff rule also appeared to frustrate Butker at times. Two of his kickoffs drew placement penalties last year. This included a crucial out-of-bounds kick against the Jacksonville Jaguars in Week 5, near the end of the fourth quarter, that allowed the opponent to start the game-winning drive at their own 40-yard line.
Although he is technically signed through 2028, Butker essentially is entering a contract season with Kansas City. His $5.7 million salaries for 2027 and 2028 are non-guaranteed and now seem disproportionate to the value he can deliver on the field.
With a continuously tight financial picture, the Chiefs could create $4.4 million in 2027 salary cap space by releasing Butker after the season.
If released, he could also find difficulty latching on with a new team.
Simply put, players who have been among the highest paid at their positions are not always eager to settle for bargain contracts. Butker will have made over $30 million in his NFL career after 2026 and may be less inclined to take offers closer to the veteran minimum teams often throw at average kickers.
There is also a perpetual elephant in the room when discussing Harrison Butker. He has become notable off the field for expressing controversial opinions. While his remarks are certainly constitutionally protected, the potential for a public-relations headache could dampen interest in his free-agent market.
Unless one boasts transcendent talent, it is generally better for NFL players not to be famous for anything except playing football. If Butker’s 2025 production is what to expect going forward, teams may be hesitant to choose his services over a less polarizing kicker.
Butker can make the perception he has created not matter. If 2026 sees a return to his status as one of the league’s best kickers, Butker could easily stay in Kansas City on his high 2027 salary — or even beat it in free agency if released. NFL teams often have little patience for drama from replaceable talent, but they show extreme tolerance when it comes from productive players.
Regardless of one’s feelings about Butker’s production or personality, there is no debating his reputation as a professional. In training camp, we will likely see him out early practicing his craft. When he takes media questions at the podium, expect him to be candid and take accountability for his disappointing year.
But he has lost the fanbase’s trust that he can deliver in key moments. That will be very difficult to rebuild.
At 31 years old, there is certainly a path for Butker to retake the mountain as one of the league’s elite kickers. Because of some circumstances surrounding him, however, another rough campaign could potentially bring his NFL days to an early close.
