Studious Harrison Butker gives Chiefs a steady force in the kicking game
Harrison Butker knows the stereotypes.
Kickers don’t work hard. They don’t take as many reps as the other position groups. They’re not the most athletic players on the team. They’re not tough.
There’s some truth to the generalizations — or at least one of them. Kickers can only take so many reps before the practice becomes detrimental to their bodies and their performance suffers.
Butker, though, has figured out a way to minimize stress on his leg while still developing and evolving as a kicker with the Chiefs.
By the time the special teams unit watches video of their plays after a game, Butker has already watched each of his kicks at least three times. It’s a habit that’s earned Butker a “student of the game” label from special teams coordinator and assistant head coach Dave Toub.
“We get a lot of flack as kickers that we don’t kick a ton,” Butker said. “There’s only so much kicking you can do before you’re potentially injuring yourself.
“I look at it, ‘How can I put more work in that’s not necessarily physically on the field? How can I put more work in outside the field?’ If I’m watching film, if I’m taking notes, I’m getting that much better and I’m putting that much more time in.”
Throughout his two seasons with the Chiefs, Butker has noticed a direct correlation between the amount of film he’s studied and his consistency.
“I think the more you watch film, it starts happening in your mind,” Butker said. “So when you go to kick, your body is already naturally doing what you’ve been watching on film.”
Butker doesn’t just watch film of himself. He also studies tape of other kickers in the league like Justin Tucker (Baltimore), Graham Gano (Carolina) and Greg Zuerlein (Los Angeles Rams). He doesn’t model himself to be a replica of any one kicker, instead taking little things each does to incorporate into his own routine.
“I look at follow through,” Butker said of studying Tucker, in particular. “I look at what’s his head doing, ball contact, kickoff, how do they disguise stuff. You can always get better. You can always get better.”
Butker was pretty spot on a season ago, making 24 of 27 field goal attempts with a season-long of 54 yards. He made both field goal attempts in the playoffs — including a 39-yarder to send the AFC Championship to overtime — and converted all eight extra points.
Through a week of training camp this year, Butker is putting his accuracy on display, missing just one field goal in six practices. The lone miss came on a 58-yard attempt in the indoor facility at Missouri Western, but Butker rebounded to knock his next kick through from the same distance just minutes later.
Before the Chiefs reconvened for camp in late July, the organization rewarded Butker with a five-year, $20 million extension, making him the sixth-highest paid at his position, per SpoTrac.
“He’s right on track,” Toub said. “He’s doing everything we expect him to do. He’s got a very strong leg and we’re happy that he’s going to be with us for a long time.”
Now entering his third year in the NFL after originally being taken by the Panthers in the seventh round of the 2017 draft, Butker began his career on the practice squad after he was waived in favor of Graham Gano. The Chiefs signed him off the Panthers’ practice squad midway through the 2017 season, and he quickly reliable force on special teams.
“Coach Toub, Brett Veach and all the guys here in the organization, they saw what I had and they put their faith in me to say ‘All right, I trust this guy Monday Night Football to make the big kicks for us,’” Butker said. “That meant a lot. I always trust my abilities, but to see an organization that hadn’t necessarily worked me out, had just kind of seen my work from afar, that meant a lot.”
Now, he’s learning to pace himself through the regular season. The experience of playing in two postseasons with the Chiefs taught Butker how to manage his body and his leg for optimal performance when it matters most.
“In 2017, I was treating every game like the Super Bowl almost, which I think is great to do, but now my mindset having played in two playoff runs is how do I keep my body fresh for a long playoff run,” he said. “The season doesn’t stop when the regular season is over. That’s when it really gets going.”
This story was originally published August 2, 2019 at 5:10 PM.