You win as a team, you lose as a team, and you defend potentially controversial viewpoints as a team.
That line likely isn’t posted in locker rooms all across the country, but it seems to be how the Kansas City Chiefs are handling their current “outspoken kicker” situation. Ideally, as an NFL team, if you don’t hear a lot out of your kicker, or no one is talking about your kicker, you are in good shape. That means the kicker is doing their job… which is to kick an oblong-shaped leather ball through two really long and tall sticks.
There’s usually not a lot of conversation around Chiefs kicker Harrison Butker when he’s doing his thing out on the football field. But when he gave a commencement speech at Benedictine College recently, he caused quite the stir with some of the topics he touched on.
The quotes included in the video below certainly ruffled some feathers:
For the ladies present today […] I want to speak directly to you briefly because I think it is you, the women, who have had the most diabolical lies told to you…#butker #benedictinecollege pic.twitter.com/yX86ZR0oKH
— That Trad Gal (@thattradgal) May 15, 2024
One could assume that Butker didn’t go into that portion of his speech with ill-intent, and of course, the speech was nearly 20 minutes long with a lot of missing context. However, making a lot of “homemaker” remarks about women obviously didn’t go over well in the day and age we currently live in.
Thus, Harrison Butker has been heavily criticized and under attack ever since he gave that speech. When it came time for media availability with the Kansas City Chiefs, it didn’t take very long for reporters to ask about Butker’s commentary on women.
Chiefs head coach Andy Reid was up at the podium, and someone asked him how the Kansas City kicker’s thoughts impacted the women on staff with the Chiefs. Reid quickly shut down the question with this answer:
“I don’t think he was speaking ill of women. He has his opinions and we all respect that. I let you guys in this room and you have a lot of opinions that I don’t like.”
When asked a question about Butker's speech, Andy Reid was absolutely savage in his answer regarding the media members they let in the room 💀 pic.twitter.com/SbBe01eHDM
— how bout those CHIEFS (@hbtCHIEFS) May 22, 2024
The only thing that would have made that response better is if Reid took a big bite out of a cheeseburger as he pointed to the crowd for the next question.
Kansas City’s head coach wasn’t the only one that had Butker’s back. Patrick Mahomes had some media availability earlier in the day, and he too was asked about his teammate’s remarks.
Mahomes also downplayed the situation and voiced his support for Butker:
“I know him. I’ve known him for seven years. I judge him by the character that he shows every single day, and that’s a good person. That’s someone who cares about the people around him, cares about his family…
There’s certain things that he said that I don’t necessarily agree with but I understand the person that he is and he’s trying to to do whatever he can to lead people in the right direction.”
“There’s certain things that [Butker] said that I don’t necessarily agree with but I understand the person that he is and he’s trying to to do whatever he can to lead people in the right direction”
– #ChiefsKingdom QB Patrick Mahomes on Harrison Butker’s speech pic.twitter.com/9qZ36J0NPB— Jon Root (@JonnyRoot_) May 22, 2024
If the NFL media members were looking to get a quote that would divided the locker room of the Kansas City Chiefs, I’ll put how that went into football terms…
The attempt was no good.
