In the 2025 season, the Kansas City Chiefs‘ performance did not meet expectations, and that broke down to individuals like kicker Harrison Butker. He is the fourth-highest paid kicker by average salary, yet last year, Butker missed five field goals and four point-after attempts.
Five of those missed kicks came within the first four weeks of the campaign, echoing the slow start of the team as a whole.
Butker reflected on the disappointing season with local media after Tuesday’s mandatory minicamp practice.
He was clear in his reflection of the rough beginning to the year.
“When you start the season off with misses, your back is kind of against the wall mentally,” Butker said as he acknowledged the slow start. “It kind of takes a toll on you; it’s just not great. I climbed out of it, I finished the season [and] I think I was above [the] middle of the pack. Obviously, you don’t even want to be there, but you don’t want to start out the season missing as much.”
In the preseason last year, Butker was perfect on field goals and extra points. He made all six point-after attempts over the three exhibition matches, along with four field goals — including one over 50 yards.
It was one of only two preseasons Butker has been perfect since before the 2019 season. It didn’t lead to a hot start in 2025, but Butker is looking forward to a similarly strong performance in this preseason.
“I think the focus is just to have a great training camp, to be very competitive with myself,” Butker noted. Preseason, sometimes you don’t get a lot of reps. I don’t think last preseason we got too many field goals, or maybe there were shorter field goals, but [I’m] just hoping I can have a good training camp and start out strong for the season.”
To dig deeper into the struggles Butker went through in 2025, after years of being as reliable and clutch as any kicker in the NFL, he talked about the overkill of focusing on making long kicks.
“Starting the season last year with the misses, and they were long misses, I feel like I was just so focused on hitting the big ball,” Butker said. “Especially when it’s like a 56-yarder, I’m trying to crush it when there’s no need to. If you just hit it smooth, it’ll still go over the crossbar.
“So for the rest of the season, I just didn’t really care about hitting a big ball, and I really haven’t focused on that during OTAs,” Butker pointed out. “[It] just tells you when you’re smooth, and you have good foot-to-ball contact, and you’re feeling strong, the ball’s going to go. You don’t need to overpower it. Kicking is such a mental skill that if you’re going out there and you don’t have the right mindset, that can really affect you a ton.”
This offseason, Butker’s shift in mentality has been successful so far. Last week, special teams coordinator Dave Toub shared that Butker made three field goals in a row to end each two-minute drill the Chiefs ran. Each field goal was over 60 yards.
Every player and coach was affected by the change in time off this spring and summer; the season shifted from ending in mid-February to a long offseason starting in early January.
Butker was one of them and is looking to use the additional five weeks to his advantage.
“Those first couple of weeks after the season, I just focused a ton on flexibility and mobility,” Butker said. “So, when I showed up here, I felt like my body could move exactly how I wanted it to.”
“When you play all the way to the Super Bowl, maybe you’re a little bit more banged up, but you’re also just mentally fatigued,” Butker admitted. “You kind of want to get away, and then before you know it, you’re showing up for Phase 2, and you’re kind of back in the ring. So, I think it was just focusing on getting healthy, and obviously, as a kicker, I’m very blessed I don’t have the contact injuries, but just making sure you’re feeling good… very thankful for that extra time.”
Kansas City will be hoping the extended time to rest and recoup will make a difference for Butker, who has made a difference between wins and losses on many occasions in the Chiefs’ run to three Super Bowl titles. He wasn’t the reason the team dropped to 6-11 last year, but he could be a big factor in the organization returning to the top of the division, conference and league.
