Chiefs might bench Harrison Butker for kickoffs this year: Why Kansas City is considering the drastic change

Harrison Butker has handled kickoffs for the Kansas City Chiefs since his rookie year in 2017, but that’s something that could change this season.

Chiefs special teams coordinator Dave Toub revealed Thursday that the team is considering sending Butker to the bench to start this season. Although Butker has been criticized for making controversial comments in a graduation speech earlier this month, his potential bank has nothing to do with it.

The reason the Chiefs are considering keeping Butker on the sideline for kickoffs is because they don’t want him to take hits all season.

“I like to have someone who is capable of making tackles, Butker is capable of making tackles, but I really don’t want him to make tackles all year,” Toub said. told the media.

The difference between this year and the last seven years – when Butker handled the kickoffs – is that the NFL will implement one of the most drastic rule changes in league history in 2024 with its new starting rule. The rule has already been used in the XFL and after watching film of how kickoffs worked in that league, Toub realized that kickers were taking a beating because they were almost always involved in the tackle.

“If you watched the XFL — I watched every play — I bet the kickers were involved in at least 25% to 40% of the tackles,” Toub said. “Either trying to get a guy to recover, or making the tackle or missing the tackle. We don’t want Butker in that situation.”

Rather than putting Butker in danger, the Chiefs are considering bringing in safety Justin Reid or former rugby player Louis Rees-Zammit, who I just signed with the team in March.

On Reid’s side, he replaced Butker before the kicker was injured, so the Chiefs would certainly feel comfortable with him handling kickoffs.

In fact, there is a big advantage to letting Reid kick off and that is the fact that the team now has to account for the kicker.

“Justin can cover, shoot and go out there and make tackles,” Toub said. “He’s an extra guy they probably aren’t considering. … A guy like Justin is a guy they need to worry about. They need to block him and give up blocking someone else.”

Toub also left the door open for Rees-Zammit to handle some early kicks.

“Louis did far beyond what I expected,” said Toub, via Arrowhead Report. “He can kick field goals, he can be a kickoff guy for us. He’s as good as Justin (Reid) at moving the football and things like that on kickoffs.”

While Butker will likely be on the bench for most of the opening games this year, Toub admitted the Chiefs could still use him if it makes sense.

“He’s going to be a guy we use in certain situations,” Toubb said. “He has a lot of ability to move the ball, whereas other guys might not be as adept at doing that. He can still kick a touchback if we need him to.”

No one has any idea what the new starting rule will be like in NFL and with less than 100 days until the start of the season, teams are currently redefining their strategy. For example, the Chiefs may not be the only team that benches their starting kicker for kickoffs. However, if you bench your kicker, you must have a lot of faith in his replacement, because if the ball goes out of bounds on a kickoff or fails to reach the returning team’s 20-yard line, the receiving team receives a touchback at 40.

“You can’t take too much risk because if you hit it out of bounds, now you’re giving up the ball at 40,” Toub said.

There are three different types of touchbacks with the new rule and if you want a refresher on how the new home rule will work, you you can check it out here.

All 32 teams are still trying to figure out the best strategy for the new kickoff, and for now, the Chiefs feel the best strategy would be to have Butker on the bench.