Everything you need to know about the Chiefs cutting Cairo Santos

Despite all of this—the injury, the release, the signing of Butker—the Chiefs aren’t actually officially done with Cairo Santos. Unless, that is, they want to be done.

Santos is an injured free agent right now, yes. Once he’s healthy, Santos is free to sign with any team in the NFL for any amount of money over any length of time. However, if there’s been some backroom handshakes of any kind, Santos might have already worked out a deal to return to the Chiefs when he gets healthy.

Remember this: every single team has only two slots on injured reserve for players who they can activate at some point during the season. As we mentioned already, Steven Nelson is one such player. For a season that’s still more than 75 percent unfinished, the Chiefs could not have felt comfortable using both of those spots before the first month was even finished.

Is it possible the Chiefs set Santos free only to re-sign him later, having told him that it’s official even as they need to make if unofficial to keep a roster spot open? Yes, it’s very possible. However, the only way we will know for sure is to see where Santos is kicking once his groin has healed.

Related Story: How the Chiefs d-line has improved in '17

Even more importantly, what if Butker looks like a rookie phenom? Would the Chiefs let him go to keep a promise? Or did they tell Santos that all doors are open for now but they needed to see his replacement perform. The NFL is a business, after all.

There’s a lot at play here, but the bottom line is that Santos could still be kicking field goals for the Chiefs this postseason if that’s what Brett Veach wants to do. It just depends on money, timing, health and his replacement. Given how surprising this season has been so far, anything is on the table.