Chiefs’ Kicker Decision for Week 10 Is Bordering on Blind Faith

With nine weeks of play and the NFL trade deadline in the books, the Kansas City Chiefs are in good standing overall but have some potential red flags. One of them is in a lesser-appreciated realm, but it could continue to loom large if not resolved in time for the postseason.

Head coach Andy Reid's squad and Dave Toub's special teams unit still can't rely on the kicking game to produce quality results. Longtime starter Harrison Butker's nightmare season rolled on in last weekend's win over the New York Jets, presumably making his seat even hotter with another subpar performance.

Is that actually the case, though? Despite former Pro Bowler Justin Tucker being ready to go on a moment's notice, KC has yet to make a swap at the position. Those expecting a changing of the guard on Sunday against the Atlanta Falcons will have to wait at least one more week.

Speaking to the media on Wednesday, Reid announced that he's trotting Butker out again in Week 10.

"As far as the kicking part goes, I'm going to stick with Butker this week," Reid said. "We'll go from there."

Reid and Toub have remained consistent in their backing of Butker, routinely pointing to his past accomplishments as justification for the unwavering faith. Instead of a new norm, the coaching staff is echoing that this is merely a cold spell of sorts.

"Listen, Harrison's done such a great job for us over time here," Reid said. "Sometimes, you go through these little peak and valley things. You give him a chance to work through them; we'll see how things go."

Chiefs' call to stick with Harrison Butker raises multiple questions

Another week of Butker highlights a multitude of concerns with the club's current approach to rectifying the ongoing kicking woes.

First and foremost, believing Butker is going to return to prime form borders on blind faith. The 31-year-old is perfectly fine on kicks inside the 50-yard line, going 10-for-11 on the year, but it's his long-range ability that — at least statistically — seems unlikely to come back.

After going 2-for-5 on field goals of 50-plus yards in 2024, he "rebounded" to post a 5-for-8 mark last season and is a career-worst 2-for-8 this year. In a sport where more and more kickers seem to be gaining either distance or accuracy, Kansas City's go-to man is losing both. This doesn't pass the smell test of someone who, in Reid's words, is "off a bit."

There's also the Tucker aspect of it all. If the Chiefs were so confident in a Butker resurgence, why would they bring in competition on the practice squad and keep him around for this long? That's on top of the reality that Tucker is in as a 36-year-old player who hasn't kicked in a game since the 2024 season and made only 73.3% of his tries, including converting on six of 11 attempts from that all-important long distance.

Maybe there is a world where Butker levels out. He found his stride, to some degree, in 2025-26 after a slow start out of the gate. Perhaps even if he doesn't, there's a concession from the coaching staff and Tucker proves to be closer to his 2023 self than the version we last saw. It's improbable, albeit not impossible.

But this comes off as a team hoping to catch lightning in a bottle rather than one that's truly getting to the bottom of a pressing issue.

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