The Kansas City Chiefs signing Five-time All-Pro kicker Justin Tucker on their practice squad Wednesday apparently raised new questions about the future of current Chiefs kicker Harrison Butker amid Butker’s continued struggles this season.
Speaking to reporters Thursday, Chiefs special teams coordinator Dave Toub shared that Butker and Tucker were exchanging notes in their first pair of practices as teammates.
Harrison Butker, Justin Tucker have become “professionals” amid potential competition
“I’m a coach. I’m not a kicking guy,” Toub explained, per Myles Simmons of Pro Football Talk. “I don’t speak that language like those people do. [Wednesday] are incredible, both men. They talk, they talk about issues, they talk about, ‘How did you handle it?’ And it turned out great. They are professionals. They are both professionals. So that part was good.”
Butker has made 11-of-16 field-goal attempts this season, with two of those misses coming in the Chiefs’ 20-3 loss to the Seattle Seahawks on October 25. On Thursday, Toub said Butker incision a 45-yard kick right in Seattle was “a bad miss.”
“You have to make kicks” admitted Toub. “The short kicks — that’s considered a short kick — you have to take those in situations where it’s a tight game like that. It was an issue in that game, for sure.”
Harrison Butker had a strong response to the signing of Justin Tucker
Toub insists “Butker is our kicker” as 5-1 Chiefs prepare to play at the rival Denver Broncos (5-2) this coming Sunday. While Tucker hasn’t attempted a significant in-game kick since the 2024 season, it’s thought he could be elevated to the active roster next week if Butker struggles in Denver.
That said, Butker had a strong response to the Tucker signing during Wednesday’s practice.
“He went 10-for-10 [Wednesday] with Tucker standing there,” Toub said of Butker. “And he went 10-for-10. On a windy day, it was a 28-mile-an-hour gust yesterday, and he went 10-for-10. And I thought right before out to practice, I was going, ‘Is this poor—–.’ I mean, it was a 28-mile-an-hour gust, and he had to go out there and try — and he did. He went 10-for-10, so that’s a good thing. So let’s get on with it.”
Time will tell whether or not that performance will give Butker the confidence he may need to handle kicking at Mile High altitude on the first day of November.