The Kansas City Chiefs are not ready to move on from Harrison Butker. Despite field goal problems that lingered through the first six games of the season and turned into a full blown disaster in Week 7, the team does not intend to make a kicking change for Sunday's road game against the Denver Broncos.
Coach Andy Reid said this week that Butker will "probably" keep his job as the team's kicker in Week 8, and special teams coordinator Dave Toub went even further, firmly backing his veteran specialist.
Butker missed two field goal attempts in last week's 20-3 loss to the Seattle Seahawks and is now just 11-for-16 on the season. His 68.8% conversion rate is easily the worst mark of an otherwise excellent career.
Those costly misses pushed the Chiefs to look for outside help. After hosting three candidates at their facility during the week, Kansas City signed free agent Justin Tucker to its practice squad. The eight-time All-Pro will not handle kicking duties against the Broncos, however.
"Butker is our kicker," Toub said. "We're trying to improve Butker. We're trying to get Butker right. That's what this whole thing is about." Toub noted that Butker went 10-for-10 on field goal attempts at Wednesday's practice, even with 28-mph wind gusts sweeping through Kansas City.
Bringing in Tucker is about more than having a fallback plan if Butker keeps struggling. The move is also designed to help Butker rediscover his usual accuracy. Tucker himself regressed in his final season with the Baltimore Ravens, missing a career-high eight of his 30 attempts, and Toub explained that mentorship from one of the greatest kickers in league history, one who recently worked through his own accuracy issues, could benefit Butker.
Tucker sat out the entire 2025 season while serving a 10-game suspension that followed an investigation into alleged inappropriate behavior during massage sessions. He became eligible to sign with a team before the 2026 season and drew numerous calls before the Chiefs secured him.
"He's a good kicker," Toub said. "I've heard he's been out making the rounds. We talk. All the special teams coaches talk. He had four workouts before we brought him in. We were his fifth workout, tryout. The word was that he's hitting the ball great. I wanted to see it. I always thought he was a great kicker."
Toub built a 30-kick tryout for Tucker and the other candidates that featured 10 extra points, seven field goals longer than 50 yards and one attempt from 60 yards. Tucker converted all 30 kicks, and 60% of them split a six-foot cylinder in the middle of the uprights.
"Somebody that's struggling is not able to put the ball with that kind of accuracy at 30 kicks," Toub said. "He was off-the-charts good. That's the reason why we signed him to the practice squad." If Tucker is truly back to the form that made him a Ravens legend, he could be a legitimate game day option should the Chiefs call on him.
