Kansas City Chiefs: The 5 biggest moves of Brett Veach’s first year as general manager

5. Sign Harrison Butker

This could be an easy move to overlook given that other positions could be considered more important, but the Kansas City Chiefs were one of the worst teams in the red zone last year—despite ranking among the league’s best overall offenses—which means they needed a reliable kicker in 2017 more than most NFL teams.

Cairo Santos was the most accurate kicker in franchise history coming into last season and still had to play out the final year of his rookie deal, meaning he was reliable and inexpensive. Unfortunately a lingering groin injury never fully healed from the preseason and Santos was once again unable to kick after three weeks. The Chiefs sent him to injured reserve and found themselves leaning on a rookie from the Carolina Panthers’ practice squad in Harrison Butker.

Four months later, Butker was nothing short of a revelation—or as his Twitter handle says, he was a “buttkicker.” In only 13 games played, Butker led the NFL in field goals made with 38, and he was more accurate than Santos ever was. Dave Toub reportedly gave Veach the scoop to sign him, saying Butker was Toub’s favorite kid coming into the draft in case the Chiefs ever needed such an asset. It turns out they did, and Veach made the savvy move to bring him in rather than the kid they’d tried out in the preseason in Sam Ficken.