Harrison Butker got himself paid. Literally.
The Chiefs’ kicker for the team’s past three titles agreed to a four-year contract worth up to $26 million with $17.75 million guaranteed, according to ESPN.
The deal makes Butker the highest paid kicker in NFL history and without any agent fees, as the 29-year-old reportedly negotiated the deal himself. The new contract slightly edges the guarantees Ravens kicker Justin Tucker has on the four-year, $24 million contract extension he signed in 2022, which has $17.5 million guaranteed.
The deal comes after a tumultuous offseason for Butker, who made headlines in May after giving a commencement speech at Benedictine College in Kansas. He encouraged women to be “homemakers” instead of pursuing a professional career in the workforce and referred to the “the biblical teaching of who killed Jesus.”
Butker received heavy criticism for his comments, but no discipline. On the field, he has been a crucial piece to the Chiefs’ dynasty as his 57-yard field goal in February’s Super Bowl was a record for the event, while his nine made field goals in the game are another Super Bowl record.
Butker is entering the final year of a five-year, $20 million contract he signed in 2019 that paid roughly $4 million annually and had just $9 million guaranteed, according to Spotrac.
A seventh-round pick out of Georgia Tech in the 2017 NFL Draft, Butker originally played soccer before switching to football. He was taken by the Panthers, but waived a few weeks into the season after signing with the team’s practice squad. The Chiefs signed Butker off the Panthers’ practice squad in September 2017 and he’s been a staple there ever since.
