The Kansas City Chiefs will not use kicker Harrison Butker for all kickoffs amid a new rule change.
Special teams coordinator Dave Toub addressed the new NFL hybrid kickoff rule, which will bring both teams closer together, however, include a "landing zone" area between the receiving team's goal line and 20-yard line, which would prompt action off the kickoff if the ball lands within that sector. The rule change is similar to the one used by the XFL, which sees kickers made the tackle 25 to 40 percent of the time, according to Toub.
“Butker’s able to make a tackle, but I really don’t want him making tackles all year long,” Toub told reporters on Thursday (May 30) via NFL reporter Ari Meirov.
Toub acknowledged that the Chiefs would likely use safety Justin Reid, who had previously replaced an injured Butker as the team's emergency kicker, or recently signed former rugby union player Louis Rees-Zammit, as a kickoff specialist in order to be someone other teams would have to "worry about."
“The team that figures it out, kickoff-wise and kickoff return-wise, is gonna really excel early,” Toub said of the new rules. “We wanna be that team.”
Butker has emerged as one of the NFL's best kickers, kicking a game-winning field goal during Kansas City's Super Bowl LVII win against the Philadelphia Eagles, setting a career record for field goals in the Super Bowl (9) during his four appearances and making the longest field goal in Super Bowl history during the Chiefs' win against the San Francisco 49ers in February and leading the NFL in scoring during the 2019 regular season. The three-time Super Bowl champion sparked controversy this offseason during a commencement speech at Benedictine College in which he took aim at working women, the LGBTQ+ community and abortion rights during the recent graduation ceremony.
“If it wasn’t clear that the timeless Catholic values are hated by many, it is now,” Butker said at the Regina Caeli Academy Courage Under Fire Gala, his first public statement since the controversy, via Daily Wire. “Over the past few days, my beliefs — or what people think I believe — have been the focus of countless discussions around the globe.”
“At the outset, many people expressed a shocking level of hate. But as the days went on, even those who disagreed with my viewpoints, shared their support for my freedom of religion," Butker added. “As to be expected, the more I’ve talked about what I value most, which is my Catholic faith, the more polarizing I have become."
“It’s a decision I’ve consciously made and one I do not regret at all. If we have truth and charity, we should trust in the Lord’s providence and let the Holy Ghost do the rest of the work," Butker added.
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