Chiefs make Harrison Butker NFL's top-paid kicker

[CuseJacket]

Sources: Chiefs make Butker NFL's richest kicker

The Chiefs are signing kicker Harrison Butker to a four-year, $25.6 million extension that includes $17.75 million guaranteed, sources told ESPN's Adam Schefter on Monday.

www.espn.com

The extension is for four years and $25.6 million, with $17.75 million guaranteed, the sources said. At $6.4 million per year, Butker will make more than the previously highest-paid kickers, the Baltimore Ravens' Justin Tucker and Philadelphia Eagles' Jake Elliott, who both average $6 million per season on their contracts.

Butker, who represented and negotiated the deal himself, confirmed in a post to X that he was finalizing a four-year extension.

Butker's career field goal percentage is 89.1, which is second all time behind Tucker at 90.2.

 

[ThatGuy]

Butker, who represented and negotiated the deal himself, confirmed in a post to X that he was finalizing a four-year extension.

Not only is he the highest-paid kicker - but (assuming all things are equal) he's making ~15% more than he would have had he pulled in an agent to negotiate this deal.

Not too shabby.

 

[jgtengineer]

Not only is he the highest-paid kicker - but (assuming all things are equal) he's making ~15% more than he would have had he pulled in an agent to negotiate this deal.

Not too shabby.

I mean he has an IE degree. He's just the "personnel system" he was engineering.

 

[gtbeak]

I mean he has an IE degree. He's just the "personnel system" he was engineering.

Remember when he started at Tech, it seemed to me he was just as likely to miss a 35 yard field wide as he was to hit a 50 yarder. He always had the leg, but the accuracy was another story. It seems he has indeed engineered a great personnel system. Great return on investment!

 

[4shotB]

Remember when he started at Tech, it seemed to me he was just as likely to miss a 35 yard field wide as he was to hit a 50 yarder. He always had the leg, but the accuracy was another story. It seems he has indeed engineered a great personnel system. Great return on investment!

One of the biggest thrills is watching players develop over their careers. Butker. Charlie Thomas. Adam Gotsis. Keith Brooking. Attachou. The list is endless. I am afraid we may not see as much of that in the future with the portal and NIL stuff going on.

 

[majorQ9]

Remember when he started at Tech, it seemed to me he was just as likely to miss a 35 yard field wide as he was to hit a 50 yarder. He always had the leg, but the accuracy was another story. It seems he has indeed engineered a great personnel system. Great return on investment!

We called it the Butker zone, field goals from 35-45 were no good, but he was automatic if they were outside that range.

 

[dmurdock]

It seems he has indeed engineered a great personnel system. Great return on investment!

He has indeed created a great personnel system: https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/4482291/2023/05/16/harrison-butker-chiefs-nfl-faith/ (not sure if this is behind a paywall as it is essentially an Athletic article)

Some quotes from the article:

• “I’m trying to find the smallest things that make a difference.”
• He eats five gluten-free meals a day, spaced every three hours
• Butker even eats a meal of steak and rice at halftime of his games. When the Chiefs are traveling, the team chef, through their operations director, tells the hotel chef what Butker wants to eat and when. The hotel chef then prepares meal packets for the kicker, including one for halftime and another for the plane ride home.
• Butker is a favorite of Chiefs strength coaches because of his dedication to the weight room. His form is so perfect, he can be their example.
• He loves watching tape, too, which also makes him an outlier among his kicking peers. “I’ve never heard of a kicker who watches so much tape,” Toub says.
• Butker watches so much that the Chiefs’ video crew has assigned him his own cubicle in their department. He sits at a desk working the remotes for two monitors while Winchester and punter/holder Tommy Townsend watch from a couch behind him.
• At practices and games, he sometimes packs a Thermapen to check the air temperature, which can affect the PSI of footballs.
• “He’s probably the hardest-working kid I’ve ever had the opportunity to play with,” Winchester says. “He just never stops working on his craft, and he is so in-depth and detailed. I’ve never been around anybody like him."
• Butker was an industrial engineering major in college and is an industrial engineer of a kicker.
  
  
  
  

 

[Ramble1885]

We called it the Butker zone, field goals from 35-45 were no good, but he was automatic if they were outside that range.

It’s called:

𝓣𝓱𝓮 𝔂𝓲𝓹𝓼

 

[Techster]

He has indeed created a great personnel system: https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/4482291/2023/05/16/harrison-butker-chiefs-nfl-faith/ (not sure if this is behind a paywall as it is essentially an Athletic article)

Some quotes from the article:

• “I’m trying to find the smallest things that make a difference.”
• He eats five gluten-free meals a day, spaced every three hours
• Butker even eats a meal of steak and rice at halftime of his games. When the Chiefs are traveling, the team chef, through their operations director, tells the hotel chef what Butker wants to eat and when. The hotel chef then prepares meal packets for the kicker, including one for halftime and another for the plane ride home.
• Butker is a favorite of Chiefs strength coaches because of his dedication to the weight room. His form is so perfect, he can be their example.
• He loves watching tape, too, which also makes him an outlier among his kicking peers. “I’ve never heard of a kicker who watches so much tape,” Toub says.
• Butker watches so much that the Chiefs’ video crew has assigned him his own cubicle in their department. He sits at a desk working the remotes for two monitors while Winchester and punter/holder Tommy Townsend watch from a couch behind him.
• At practices and games, he sometimes packs a Thermapen to check the air temperature, which can affect the PSI of footballs.
• “He’s probably the hardest-working kid I’ve ever had the opportunity to play with,” Winchester says. “He just never stops working on his craft, and he is so in-depth and detailed. I’ve never been around anybody like him."
• Butker was an industrial engineering major in college and is an industrial engineer of a kicker.
  
  
  

Every elite player I've ever seen and read about in every sport (Peyton Manning, Tom Brady, Lebron James, Michael Jordan, Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo, Greg Maddux, Shohei Ohtani, etc) has had a system, and all were willing to go above and beyond their peers to gain that extra half percent for an advantage. It's not a secret what it takes to become good or great, it's the willingness to sacrifice your time and do the work that separates the great ones. I can imagine it gets even more difficult once you have millions in your bank account and don't really need to work as hard.

Kudos to Butker. He's one of those we always say, "Wait until he doesn't have to focus on school and GT's classes...he's going to blossom." He was VERY good at GT, now he's an elite level kicker at the NFL level.

 

[stingerman]

If Harrison misses the kick in 2014, do you think he is still sitting where he is today with the sustained success he has had? Do you think he is even in the NFL?

 

[Augusta_Jacket]

If Harrison misses the kick in 2014, do you think he is still sitting where he is today with the sustained success he has had? Do you think he is even in the NFL?

Yes. One of the biggest strengths a kicker has is the ability to brush aside misses and get right back out there. I have no doubt Butker would have been just as successful regardless of the outcome of that kick.

 

[4shotB]

Interesting question. If that kick was one yard longer it might not have been good. But it was well kicked. So, yes in this case nothing changes. On the other hand, had he shanked it or kicked it into the center’s rear end, maybe not. Similar question to will Rory ever win another major after missing two short putts at the end of the US Open?

 

[roadkill]

If Harrison misses the kick in 2014, do you think he is still sitting where he is today with the sustained success he has had? Do you think he is even in the NFL?

Probably, but we have no way to know with certainty.

Something "clicked" for Butker his senior year.

Year	Class	G	XPM	XPA	XP%	FGM	FGA	FG%	Pts
2013	FR	13	53	54	98.1	10	14	71.4	83
2014	SO	14	65	66	98.5	11	18	61.1	98
2015	JR	12	44	44	100	7	11	63.6	65
2016	SR	13	46	46	100	15	17	88.2	91
Career			208	210	99	43	60	71.7	337

 

[jgtengineer]

We called it the Butker zone, field goals from 35-45 were no good, but he was automatic if they were outside that range.

It was specifically 35-45 from teh right hash