Harrison Butker (born July 14, 1995) is an American professional football placekicker for the Kansas City Chiefs of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets, and was selected by the Carolina Panthers in the seventh round of the 2017 NFL draft. With an 88.4% career field goal percentage, Butker is the fourth most accurate kicker in NFL history. He led the NFL in scoring in 2019, and has won three Super Bowls with the Chiefs.
Butker was born on July 14, 1995, to Harrison Butker Sr. and Elizabeth Keller Butker, and was raised in Decatur, Georgia. He has an older sister. Butker's maternal grandfather, James W. Keller, held faculty positions in oncology at Emory University for 28 years. His mother, Elizabeth Keller Butker, has been a clinical medical physicist at Emory since 1988.
Butker went to The Westminster Schools, where he played on the football team after picking up the sport as a sophomore. Butker broke the school record (at the time) for a field goal of 53 yards. He was a three-sport athlete in basketball, football, and soccer, winning three state championships in soccer. Butker was also a tuba player for the school's symphonic band.
Before pursuing football, Butker played soccer at Georgia Tech.
Butker played at Georgia Tech from 2013 through 2016 under head coach Paul Johnson. Butker is the all-time leading scorer in school history and was a captain of the team for his senior season. In his collegiate career, Butker converted 208-of-210 extra point attempts and 43-of-60 field goal attempts. He graduated with a bachelor's degree in industrial engineering.
The Carolina Panthers selected Butker in the seventh round (233rd overall) in the 2017 NFL draft. On May 5, 2017, he signed a four-year, $2.48 million contract that included a signing bonus of $83,112. Butker was waived on September 13, and was signed to the practice squad the next day.
On September 26, 2017, Butker was signed by the Kansas City Chiefs off the Panthers' practice squad.
Butker made his debut during a Week 4 29–20 victory over the Washington Redskins on Monday Night Football. Butker missed his first career field goal attempt of 46 yards, but made his next three attempts, including the game-winner. In the next game against the Houston Texans, Butker made all five of his field goal attempts during the 42–34 road victory. Three weeks later against the Denver Broncos, he converted five field goals in the 29–19 victory, earning AFC Special Teams Player of the Week honors. For the month of October, he was named AFC Special Teams Player of the Month. During a Week 16 29–13 victory over the Miami Dolphins, Butker converted five field goals, earning him his second AFC Special Teams Player of the Week award.
Butker finished his rookie season converting 28 extra point attempts and 38-of-42 field goal attempts. Butker was named as an alternate to the 2018 Pro Bowl. He finished the season tied for fourth in scoring with Chris Boswell with 142 points.
During a Week 2 42–37 road victory over the Pittsburgh Steelers, Butker converted a career-high six extra points.
He finished his second professional season converting 65 of 69 extra point attempts and 24-of-27 field goal attempts.
On April 15, 2019, Butker signed his exclusive rights free agent tender with the Chiefs. The tender gave Butker a one-year contract worth $645,000. On June 13, he signed a five-year extension worth $20.3 million.
During a Week 9 26–23 victory over the Minnesota Vikings, Butker made four field goals, including a 44-yard game-winner, earning him AFC Special Teams Player of the Week honors. Butker was named the AFC Special Teams Player of the Month for November. He led the NFL in regular season field goals with 34 made field goals and finished the regular season with 45-of-48 extra points converted and 34-of-38 field goals converted.
On December 8, 2019, Butker converted his 89th field goal in his 100th career attempt, which is the minimum amount of field goal attempts to qualify for career percentage for NFL records. He finished this game against the Miami Dolphins with three field goals made in three attempts, which made him 90-for-101 in his career, for a career field goal percentage of 89.109%, which gave him the second best percentage in NFL history, trailing only Baltimore's Justin Tucker, who at that time had converted 260 field goals in 287 attempts in his career for a percentage of 90.592%.
Butker won his first Super Bowl in Super Bowl LIV. During the 31–20 victory over the San Francisco 49ers, Butker converted all four extra point attempts and his only field goal attempt, a 31-yarder in the second quarter.
During a Week 2 23–20 overtime victory over the Los Angeles Chargers, Butker made all three field goal attempts he had in the game, including a game tying 30-yard field goal as time expired in regulation and the game winning and franchise record tying 58-yard field goal in overtime. The longest field goal record was broken in 2022 while Butker was injured. For his performance, Butker was named AFC Special Teams Player of the Week. After his fifth missed extra point of the season in a Week 7 game against the Broncos, Butker set a career high for missed extra points in a season despite only attempting 24 extra points up to that point.
Butker finished the 2020 season converting 25-for-27 field-goal attempts and 48-for-54 on extra-point attempts. During Super Bowl LV, Butker scored all of the Chiefs' points in the 31–9 loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Butker was placed on the Reserve/COVID-19 list on December 20, 2021 after testing positive for COVID-19. Due to the NFL's COVID-19 protocols, he missed the Chiefs' Week 16 game against the Steelers. It was the first game of his career Butker missed. He was activated on December 29, 2021. In the 2021 season, Butker appeared in 16 games and converted 47-of-49 extra point attempts and 25-of-28 field goal attempts.