The Kansas City Chiefs will be without the steady kicking of Harrison Butker for the third consecutive game on Sunday night.
The Kansas City Chiefs have found life without Harrison Butker to be quite difficult in the wake of two consecutive close games during which they’ve went 1-1. On Sunday nights they’re going to have to weather a third consecutive game without Butker after the team declared him out on Saturday.
The Chiefs went with the safe call the day before their visit to Raymond James Stadium to play the Tampa Bay Buccaneers by giving Butker another week of rest instead of asking him to push through any pain or issues in order to rectify their kicking situation. Instead, they elevated Matthew Wright, a kicker who recently signed to the practice squad, to the active roster ahead of Week 4.
Butker injured his plant foot during an early kickoff in Week 1 in Glendale, Arizona in a win over the Cardinals and has been sitting since then, although he did contribute a gutsy field goal in that same game. From there the Chiefs went with Matt Ammendola for a short two-game stint, but he turned in a mistake-filled performance against the Colts in Week 3 and was released on Monday. Wright was signed within 24 hours.
Wright joins the Chiefs as a former kicker for the Steelers and Jaguars who has made nearly 90 percent of his field goal attempts since joining the NFL. Last season he converted 21 of 24 field goals for the Jags.
Butker is a good bet to be ready to return to the team for Week 5, a home game on Monday Night Football against the visiting Las Vegas Raiders.