Brett Veach’s early acquisitions for the Chiefs worked out well

The first season of Brett Veach being the general manager is on the books and there are some positive outlooks.

The Kansas City Chiefs promoted Brett Veach to general manager in July of 2017. When he took over the job after John Dorsey left the Chiefs, all of the offseason work was primarily done. The draft and free agency period were both finished and fading in the rearview mirror, and all that was left was training camp.

That didn’t stop Veach from going out and making a few trades before the season started. He traded for two inside linebackers, Reggie Ragland and Kevin Pierre-Louis along with offensive guard Cameron Erving. A few weeks later, he grabbed a rookie kicker off of another team’s practice squad to replace a steady but injured veteran.

How did Veach’s first group of guys do in their first season as Chiefs? Let’s take a look.

Harrison Butker

This was a signing that really stumped Chiefs Kingdom—not just because they didn’t know who Harrison Butker was, but it also meant the release of kicker Cairo Santos. When Santos was put on injured reserve and then released, many were confused. He had been a very good kicker for Kansas City since 2013.

Veach liked Butker coming out of college and had his eyes on him already. He brought him up from the Carolina Panthers practice squad and the rookie got his first start against the Washington Redskins. Like rookie running back Kareem Hunt who fumbled on his first carry, Butker missed his first ever NFL field goal.

The missed field goal was a long lost memory as the young kicker went on to kick the game-winning field goal that night. Butker finished the season making 38 of 42 field goal attempts. Finishing the season tied for second most field goals only behind San Fransico 49ers kicker Robbie Gould by one. Highly impressive when you consider he missed the first three games.