Kansas City Chiefs K Harrison Butker has been less-than-perfect in his return from a Week 1 ankle injury.
In each of his games since his return, Butker has missed at least one field goal attempt. He’s had issues with extra points in the past, but this is the first time that he’s struggled to make distance kicks.
Against the Bills, he missed a 51-yard field goal wide left.
Against the 49ers, he missed a 39-yard field goal wide right.
Against the Titans, he missed a 47-yard field goal wide right and a PAT wide left.
Butker told reporters in the locker room on Wednesday that he’s still less than 100% in his recovery from the ankle issue that sidelined him for four weeks. Despite that comment, Chiefs special teams coordinator Dave Toub is unwavering in his support for Butker.
“I’m not concerned about (Harrison) Butker, really,” Toub said on Thursday. “He’s got a lot of pelts on the wall for us, he’s won football games, (and) he’s a Super Bowl winner. He’s a guy that I know he’s going to bounce back from this little dip right now that he’s had. He’s coming off the injury, he mentioned that. Those are all things that I know. He’s going to be better in the next kick. He’s going to make the next kick; he’s going to get on a streak and he’s going to be good for us down the road. Full confidence in Harrison.”
Toub has already adjusted his practice approach for Butker to help him get back into the flow. The hope is that they’ll soon see the consistency that we’re used to seeing from the veteran kicker.
“What we did as a coach(ing staff), we’re increasing his reps for the individual drills. We increased them by three or four reps with the team drill, each day,” Toub explained. “Hopefully that’ll help him with a little bit as far as getting consistency. It’s not a lot. We don’t need to reinvent the wheel with the guy, for sure. He knows what he’s doing, and he knows why he – if he misses one, he knows exactly what he did. So that’s him figured that out with the operation and the hold and everything. Just becoming more consistent in practice, so it’ll carry into the game.”
Ultimately, the Chiefs don’t have much of a choice, but to stick with Butker even if he continues to struggle with consistency issues. Backup kicker Matthew Wright was poached from the practice squad and signed to the Pittsburgh Steelers 53-man roster while Chris Boswell recovers from a groin injury.
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