The Kansas City Chiefs Super Bowl LVIII team players are still basking in the well-earned glow of being champions. Point-of-view reactions and interviews regarding the latest championship season give a unique view of every player and their mindset moving forward.
Chiefs kicker Harrison Butker recently appeared on the Catholic current events show EWTN News in Depth. He opened up about his hopes to have a long career in the NFL that could end with enshrinement into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
“Well, I don’t really think about my goals in terms of stats,” Butker explained. “It’s hard not to think about the Hall of Fame. And as a kicker, if you want to get there, you have to have a long career. Morten Andersen, he kicked, I think, until (his) late 40s, early 50s.
“So you want to be a kicker, and you got to make it there, and you want to get there. You got to play for a long time. And I always wanted to get there to play until my late 40s and get in the Hall of Fame. But now, when you have a wife, and you have children, you start to think, Okay, how much of their life am I going to miss? When I have this six-month-long season?”
Butker will enter his eighth season with the Chiefs after being drafted in the seventh round by the Carolina Panthers in the 2017 NFL Draft. The 28-year-old has made All-Rookie teams and led the NFL in scoring in 2019.
“I’m at the facility seven days a week, pretty much,” Butker said. “I don’t want to miss their life because I am still their father, I’m still my wife’s husband, and I need to be present as much as I can in their life. So, there will be this kind of negotiation with myself as I continue, and hopefully, God blesses me with the ability to play for a long time. I’d love to be able to make that decision not to play when the time comes. But really, every season is up to him if he wants me to do well or not. Every kick is up to him if that’s going through the uprights or not.”
Butker’s health will be a significant factor in his hopeful Hall of Fame career, as kickers do not have the best chances to make the cut in most years. After battling an ankle injury in 2022, he returned with a solid and consistent 2023.
