The fallout from Harrison Butker’s controversial college commencement speech is still going strong.
On one side, there are multiple petitions blasting his misogynistic and homophobic comments and calling for the Chiefs to cut the 28-year-old kicker. On the other side, there is defense of Butker’s freedom to express his opinions — including from Tavia Hunt, wife of team owner Clark Hunt.
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Somewhere in the middle, there are calls for the Chiefs franchise to at least distance itself from Butler’s comments, as the NFL already has done in a statement.
Yet those expecting the team to take disciplinary action toward Butker, in the form of a release or a suspension, can forget about it. Butker will remain Kansas City’s kicker for one reason: He’s great at his on-field job.
In many professions, when employees take such public missteps, they can be replaced. But this is the NFL, where it’s hard to find a reliable field-goal and extra-point artist.
Everyone knows if Butker struggled to fulfill his role for the Chiefs, they would easily cut him. But Butker, who booted a record-long 57-yard field goal in Kansas City’s Super Bowl 58 win over the San Francisco 49ers earlier this year, has played an integral role in the team’s dynastic run.
Love it or hate it, the simple NFL ratio at work. The more talent and more essential a player is, the more tolerance there will be for questionable on-field choices.
Butker’s controversial comments, as bad as they may seem, don’t violate the two biggest standards for NFL discipline: The policies on personal conduct and substance abuse.
Chiefs second-year wide receiver Rashee Rice has been in major violation of the personal conduct policy this offseason for various incidents and can expect an NFL-imposed suspension.
And consider the Chiefs’ handling of running back Kareem Hunt in November 2018. Once a video of him assaulting him a woman resurfaced, the Chiefs wasted no time in releasing him.
The NFL suspended Josh Brown, a one-time Pro Bowl kicker, after he was charged with domestic violence in 2016. The Giants released him several days later and apologized for being slow to react. He never kicked in the NFL again.
But Harrison Butker isn’t Rice, or Hunt, or Brown. The Chiefs’ continued employment of Butker may be a bad look from the perspective of many — but that’s where this controvery will end, with him still kicking for the team. In addition, if Kansas City suspended him for even a few games without any true conduct violation, the move would raise a lot of issues with the NFL players union.
Butker made 44 of his 46 field-goal attempts last season, including the playoffs and Super Bowl. He converted all 46 of his extra-point attempts in an era where they are no longer gimmes.
Patrick Mahomes, Travis Kelce and Chris Jones have been the Chiefs’ three most indispensable players in their three-ring dynasty. Butker, the Chiefs’ kicker sicne 2017, would be a not-too-distant fourth.
The Chiefs have gone on record backing Butker from the ownership level. Jones was the first top teammate to lend support on X, saying “I love you @buttkicker7! My brotha,” in response to a user sharing a like to an online petition calling for Butker’s release.
Butker has to accept the backlash for speaking his mind, but don’t except any drastic action by the Chiefs. Such unwritten NFL rules must be expected (if not accepted) by those calling for him to get the boot.
