Why Chiefs' success allows them to slow play Harrison Butker's return

Harrison Butker is on his way back.

For the last month, the Kansas City Chiefs have been without their kicker. Knowing ahead of time just how close most games would be without Butker, it would have been natural to predict a bit of a midseason breakdown for K.C. Instead, the Chiefs special teams have continued to look truly special in his absence.

Spencer Shrader is now on IR and Matthew Wright is holding things down at kicker until Butker is back. Between them, they nailed all 11 field goal attempts in the last three games—all victories—when the winning margin (total) was 7 points. That means the role of kicker has been vitally important and yet the replacements held up just fine.

With Butker on the way back, we had a few thoughts about a returning star, short-term success, and what's most important in the midst of it all.

Don't read too much into short-term kicking success (without Butker)

Yes, the Chiefs have enjoyed tremendous success at the kicker position while Butker was gone. No, no one should be reading too much into that (we'll get to what you should be taking away from it in a second). The truth is that temporary measures are bound to let the team down at some point if kept in place.

There are very, very good reasons why Butker was given yet another contract extension this year by the Chiefs—a four-year deal in August that follows the five-year extension he landed in 2019. The Chiefs aren't exactly the New Orleans Saints when it comes to handing out multi-year deals, and saving money at kicker would be an easy move to make. Instead, their efforts show they want to keep Butker around if at all possible.

The reason you rely on Butker year after year is because his skill set marked by accuracy, reliability, and power makes for the ideal kicker. He's one of the NFL's best, has been battle-tested in every way, and is still only in his late twenties. There's every reason to believe that kicker can be a plus roster asset for the next decade as long as they simply pay him to be around.

Just because the Chiefs' replacement kickers fared well over the last month doesn't mean they should replace the kicker.

Yet still read something into it

So if Butker is really all that valuable and we shouldn't make too much of the last month, then what can we take away from it?

First, Spencer Shrader and Matthew Wright deserve credit. When you look at other team's kicking woes and think, "There have to be more than 30 guys in the world who can kick a football consistently well," you are right. It just means other teams haven't found them yet. If anything, the Chiefs did the rest of the league a real favor here by providing a platform for two other players to show they can get the job done.

The second, and most important, takeaway has already been proven in previous moments when a replacement was needed. In fact, it's how they found Butker in the first place. These Chiefs are incredible at finding specialists. Tommy Townsend replaced Dustin Colquitt and looked even better than the aging vet. Then comes Matt Araiza and suddenly no one even remembers Townsend.

The Chiefs had Cairo Santos until a groin injury sidelined him back in 2017 and Brett Veach poached Butker from the Carolina Panthers' practice squad. Matthew Wright set a franchise record for longest field goal in Chiefs history in his brief stint with the team in 2022 (only for Butker to set the record thereafter).

The bottom line is that, for some reason, the Chiefs have an uncanny knack for identifying specialists who can succeed at the highest levels. It's a rare gift but it's a gift all the same.

Let's not lose sight of what's most important