Chiefs Roster: Harrison Butker will continue to land on his left knee

In mid-November, Kansas City Chiefs placekicker Harrison Butker was placed on the team’s reserve/injured list to undergo what is said to be minor surgery on the meniscus in his left knee—that is, his plantar bone.

He missed just four games before being activated on the roster. In his first game back — Kansas City’s 21-7 victory over Cleveland Browns – Butker made all three of his extra points (which is the same as a 28-yard field goal), but missed a 29-yard field goal attempt late in the second quarter.

Coming back from the commercial after the miss, The CBS broadcast replayed the kick. Announcer Ian Eagle noted that Butker’s left knee had “bucked up” after the kick, adding, “We saw that before he was placed on IR.”

Eagle’s remark suggested that the surgery had not solved a pre-existing problem. And as so often happens, something an announcer says during a game – even if it’s completely wrong – can take on a life of its own.

The following Thursday, special teams coordinator Dave Toub made it clear that Butker’s knee it wasn’t the reason for the missing.

“We had to kick the field goal,” Toub said. “I just assumed (Butker, Winchester and Araiza) were together — but they weren’t. And it was my fault. So (there was a) little bit of a shift where Harrison panicked, (said), ‘Where are they?'”

Even before Eagle’s remark about Butker’s follow-up, he and color analyst Charles Davis had mentioned this very issue. But apparently it wasn’t nearly as convincing.

“It wasn’t his injury,” Toub insisted. “I don’t think it had anything to do with it. I just think any time you get an operation out of sync like that — (where) they have to rush or somebody’s not there — it puts a toll on it .And I think that’s what happened there.”

Toub then said Butker’s knee had not “excited” about the kick in Cleveland.

“His technique is to break (when) his leg drops,” Toub explained. “People just notice it now because it’s his knee — and you know, kind of on that leg. But all year long, his technique is to collapse the leg after he follows through.”

Speaking to reporters on Friday, Butker also pushed back on the “knee-breaking” theory put forward by Eagle.

“Some people have said form has caused it,” he said, “but I started doing it at least through the 2023 season – (and) that was my best season. I had no pain or problems there.”

Photo by Kevin Sabitus/Getty Images

Butker said the meniscus problem had just “popped up” this season. He believes it was caused by the extra torque that placekickers put on the knee of their plantar leg.

“There were at least two kickers this year that I talked to,” he noted. “They’re like, ‘Yeah man, I think I got the same thing.’ Like I probably have to work on it a bit.’”

Butker even said after the meniscus surgery that he initially thought he had to stop comes down on the left knee.

“I wasn’t sure if I was going to be able to do it,” he recalled, “(because) when you get the surgery, you don’t have quite that knee bend — (and when you) drop down on the left knee, you get into some big flexion there.

“So it’s funny: The first few times I kicked alone, I skipped (in my follow-through); I didn’t fall on that knee. I was like, ‘Wow! OK, I guess I’m going back to this form before ankle injury.’

“But as soon as I got into a team-period situation (where the pressure was on), I immediately fell down (on my left knee). I think I was just getting back to what I’ve been doing the last year or two.”

After all, this is what kickers tend to do: return to the form they’ve practiced. Butker said when the season ends — when the pressure is off — he’ll consider whether to go back to “skipping” on his follow-up.

“As you get older, why put extra stress on your body?” he acknowledged. “So that will be a focal point (of the offseason).

“But when you’ve done something for so long and you want to change a technique, you really have to make sure it’s good in the offseason — so when you come back in a pressure situation, you don’t have to think about it; you do what you want.

“So I’m definitely going to work on that. But if I feel like it (during) next training camp, I’m not going to dunk because I’m focusing so much on jumping through instead of falling down, I’ll keep doing it (I have done) to kick.”