Cairo Santos officially signs his contract tender with Kansas City Chiefs

Cairo Santos has officially signed his qualifying contract offer, which means he’s officially with the Chiefs for one more season, at least.

The Kansas City Chiefs have enjoyed one of the NFL’s best overall special teams units under assistant coach Dave Toub, and part of that is the accuracy of the kicking game with Cairo Santos in place. That will remain in place for another year with the news that Cairo Santos has officially signed his qualifying offer.

Earlier this offseason, the Chiefs extended an original-round qualifying offer to Santos, which essentially meant that Santos had one of just a few options. He could reach an agreement with another team and the Chiefs would have the right to match that deal and keep him in house, or he could sign the qualifying offer and hit unrestricted free agency in 2018.

Given that he was only tendered an original round offer, and because Santos landed with the Chiefs as an undrafted free agent, Santos will earn just under $1.8 million for the 2017 season. While it’s a substantial raise from what Santos has made so far in his NFL career, a much bigger payday likely awaits him after this season if he’s able to build on his success.

Santos set a career high in field goal accuracy last season at 88.6 percent, including 2 for 2 from 50+ yards. He also hit 6 of 7 field goals from 40-49 yards. For his career, Santos has hit 84.3 percent of his field goal attempts. He was seventh in the NFL in accuracy last season and is 9th among active kickers in terms of career field goal accuracy.