Have we seen the last of Cairo Santos in a Chiefs uniform?

Cairo Santos’ injury makes things very interesting for the Chiefs moving forward, who have serious financial issues to work out at kicker now.

Let’s make a disclaimer from the top of this column so that one thing is very clear: This is nothing personal about Cairo Santos. The guy is only the most accurate field goal kicker in franchise history on a team whose philosophy in recent years seems to be about keeping the game as close as possible (e.g. the whole bend but don’t break defense or conservative, don’t make mistakes offense). Santos has been an unearthed gem of a kicker and a wonderful find by John Dorsey and it’s very sad to see him injured at this point. He and the Chiefs both deserve a better season together.

That said, let’s get down to business. Have we seen the last of Cairo Santos in a Kansas City Chiefs uniform? This is a story about one thing and one thing only: finances. Unfortunately finances are a big deal in the NFL and many decisions are made based solely on the numbers. The numbers in this instance tell an interesting story, one that hurts Santos at a key time and gives the Chiefs a chance to find out if they can go cheap in the near future.

Santos, as already mentioned, is as automatic of a kicker as the Chiefs have ever seen. Last year, Santos had 88.6 percent of his field goals and he was even automatic from a distance. On kicks from 40 yards or more, Santos his 8 of 9 last season and even made both of his attempts from beyond 50 yards. He’s also 3 for 3 so far this year, so his accuracy is still very much an important part of this story even in 2017.

More from Arrowhead Addict

But here’s what’s interesting and makes this an important decision for Brett Veach beyond just needing to fill a roster slot for 2017 for as long as Santos is out. Santos is also scheduled to become an unrestricted free agent in 2018. As one of the better kickers likely to land on the open market, he’s likely going to make millions more than he did as an undrafted free agent playing for the Chiefs over the last four years. The Chiefs turned the corner on Ryan Succop when he was going to command his first real paycheck and they could do the same with Santos.

Last year’s best free agent kickers averaged about $3 million per season. Phil Dawson averaged that over 2 years with his new deal with the Arizona Cardinals. Steven Hauschka is getting nearly that amount over 3 years with the Buffalo Bills. Santos is more accurate and much younger than either of those options, for the sake of comparison.

Even more telling here is that the Chiefs aren’t just interesting in filling the role on a temporary basis. If so, they would have called Sam Ficken, who kicked for the Chiefs through the bulk of the preseason while Santos nursed a groin injury. Ficken did an admirable job filling in and seemed to have nice power in his leg as well. He’d learned the playbook, knew the coaching staff and had been in the locker room. Ficken was the obvious choice, until he wasn’t.

Instead, the Chiefs stole a piece from the Carolina Panthers when they poached Harrison Butker from the practice squad. He was the Panthers’ seventh round selection in the most recent draft and left Georgia Tech as the school’s all-time leading scorer. Just last year, he connected on 88 percent of his field goal attempts (15 of 17) and even hit a long one from 52 yards out.

Even more importantly, Butker’s cap hit this year will be $382K and he will make a minimum salary over the next three full seasons, even as Santos will be getting paid from someone. That’s a serious consideration for the Chiefs if they want to continue to play close to the cap. If a rookie can get the job done and the cost is one tenth against the cap, then there’s something for Veach to think about.

Santos certainly deserves a better story and that includes finishing the year healthy with the team that found him, but the NFL often isn’t fair and finances are a part of things, like it or not. Skipping over Sam Ficken shows that Brett Veach wants to see if he’s got a nice new prospect on his hands in Harrison Butker—one who can potentially save the Chiefs several million when all is said and done.

Home/Kansas City Chiefs News