Harrison Butker of the Kansas City Chiefs kicks a field goal during Super Bowl LVIII against the San ... [+]
To cap the 2023 NFL season, Harrison Butker broke the record for the longest field goal in Super Bowl history.
Just before the start of the 2024 season, it was announced that he broke the record of highest-paid kicker in NFL history.
The Kansas City Chiefs have signed Butker, a three-time Super Bowl champion, to a four-year, $25.6 million extension that includes $17.75 million guaranteed. That annual average value of $6.4 million tops Justin Tucker of the Baltimore Ravens and Jake Elliott of the Philadelphia Eagles, who were tied for first at $6 million.
Butker, 29, had one year remaining on the five-year, $20.3 million deal that he signed in 2019, which had been scheduled to pay him $3.945 million this season. This new deal adds four more years to go through the 2008 season.
One year after his 27-yard field goal won Super Bowl LVII 38-35, he made an NFL-record, 57-yard field goal in the third quarter of the Chiefs’ 25-22 victory in Super Bowl LVIII.
That glory, though, was put on the backburner three months later after his controversial commencement address at Benedictine College, a Catholic school in Atchison, Kan.
Though some considered the speech from Butker, a devout Catholic who represented and negotiated his record-breaking deal himself, to be misogynistic and offensive to the LGBTQIA+ community, his team, including his head coach, defended him.
“I don’t think he was speaking ill to women. He has his opinions, and we all respect that,” Chiefs head coach Andy Reid said. “We’re a microcosm of life here. Everybody is from different areas, different religions, different races, and we all get along. We all respect each other’s opinions.”
Super Bowl MVP and team leader Patrick Mahomes echoed Reid’s point about the Chiefs locker room having people of different opinions and from different walks of life.
“We’re not always going to agree,” Mahomes said. “But I understand the person that he is, and he’s trying to do whatever he can to lead people in the right direction. It might not be the same values that I have, but at the same time, I’m going to judge him by the character that he shows every single day.”
Mahomes praised that character of Butker, though he noted he didn’t agree with many tenets of his speech.
“I’m not going to judge him by that. I judge him by the way he acts every single day,” he said. “I know what type of person he is and I’m going to make sure I look at that first and let the other stuff handle itself.”
On the field, Butker battled back from an ankle injury that slowed him in 2022 to have one of his best seasons in 2023.
He made all 38 of his extra-points and all five of his field goals from 50 yards or farther.
In fact, he only missed two of his 35 field-goal attempts to post a 94.3% accuracy, which ranked fourth in the NFL.
But none of those three players with better field-goal accuracy — Nick Folk, Ka’imi Fairbairn and Brandon Aubrey — were 100% on extra-points like Butker, who has now been compensated for both his accuracy and strength.