Kansas City Chiefs sign Harrison Butker to five-year extension
By Drew Brooks
The Kansas City Chiefs signed kicker Harrison Butker to an extension on Thursday that will keep him in K.C. through 2024.
After signing kicker Harrison Butker to his exclusive rights contract for the 2019 season earlier this year, the Kansas City Chiefs have given him a major contract extension. His new contract is a 5-year deal worth roughly $20 million with just over $9 million in guarantees.
On the Carolina Panthers practice squad to start the 2017 season, Butker was signed by the Chiefs to replace the injured Cairo Santos. Since then, Butker has become one of the NFL’s most consistent kickers over the past two seasons by making 62 of 69 field goal attempts and 93 of 97 extra point attempts. This time has included 3 playoff games, where he’s made 2/3 field goals and a perfect 11 of 11 on extra points.
Butker has been a key part of the Chiefs special teams units that always rank near the top of the NFL, and his efforts have now paid off. The Chiefs are clearly content with him being their kicker in the years to come, as his new deal keeps him in Kansas City through the 2024 season. His deal is similar to the likes of Justin Tucker, who is signed to the Ravens through 2023 on a 4-year $20 million deal. Comparing Tucker to Butker, the Chiefs obviously believe Butker is worthy of such a commitment.
The move comes just one day after the Chiefs gave tackle Mitchell Schwartz a 1-year extension. These two moves make sense for the Chiefs, but are surprising because they come before the anticipated move of extending defensive tackle Chris Jones. Per reports, the Chiefs are now playing hardball with Jones, and these moves might be part of that negotiation.
Regardless of whether or not the move to extend Harrison Butker was related to Chris Jones or not, it was a needed move. Especially with the amount of kicking woes teams such as the Chicago Bears faced last year, having a solid kicker is crucial and will be one less headache that Brett Veach and the Chiefs will have to deal with down the road.