If you’ve been casually pursuing the news in the past few days, you may have come across a bearded man with lips too big for his face smugly talking about how being gay is a sin, women are meant to be homemakers and how COVID is “not unique” and was only an issue because of Joe Biden.
Those thought-provoking takes are making the rounds of news outlets around the country because of an NFL kicker named Harrison Butker, who gave a commencement speech at Benedictine College. So who is he?
Who is Harrison Butker and what team does he play for?
Harrison Butker is a National Football League (NFL) kicker for who plays for the Kansas City Chiefs. He was born on July 14, 1995 in Decatur Georgia. In college, he played under coach Paul Johnson at Georgia Tech. He’s the school’s all-time leading scorer, WITH 208 out of 210 conversions and 43 out of 60 field goals. He earned his bachelor’s degree in industrial engineering.
Butker was drafted by the Carolina Panthers in the seventh round as the 233rd pick overall, but his time playing for the team was brief. He was signed to a four-year contract on Sept. 13, 2017, but he struggled during the summer and was relegated to the practice squad at the start of the season. He was traded to the Chiefs two weeks later on Sept. 26. The Panthers traded him due to some roster adjustments and cap considerations, and his poor performance certainly didn’t help.
His playing for the Chiefs was dramatically different than the Panthers, and he earned an impressive 90.5% accuracy rate on field goals through 13 regular season games. His career average last year was the fourth-best in the history of the league at 88.2%. The 2024 season is the eighth with the Chiefs.
He really has had a remarkable career, despite his penchant for telling women how to live their lives. His 900 career points with the team are the third-most in franchise history, and he’s the third player ever to reach that distinction. Also, his 221 field goal attempts and 197 completions are also third most in the team’s history.
His clutch playing ability helped the Kansas City Chiefs win three Super Bowl championships: LIV, LVII, and LVIII. He holds the record for the longest field goal in Super Bowl history at 57 yards, as well as the most career field goals in Super Bowl history, at nine.