We Speak NFL
Chiefs Sign Justin Tucker to Practice Squad as Harrison Butker’s Struggles Mount
The Kansas City Chiefs are bringing in one of the most decorated kickers in NFL history to push their struggling starter.
Kansas City signed Justin Tucker to its practice squad on Wednesday, according to multiple reports, a move first reported by Sam McDowell of the Kansas City Star. The Chiefs also worked out three kickers in all, including former Los Angeles Rams kicker Harrison Mevis, per NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport. According to The Ringer’s Tom Pelissero, Tucker made all 30 of his attempts during his tryout with the team.
The signing is aimed squarely at Harrison Butker, who has missed five field goals through six games this season. Butker has converted just 11 of 16 attempts (68.8 percent), and he went 1-for-3 in Sunday night’s 20-3 loss to the Seattle Seahawks, missing from 58 and 45 yards before connecting from 50. His 68.8 percent conversion rate would stand as the worst of his career.
Tucker, 36, spent 13 seasons with the Baltimore Ravens and converted 89.1 percent of his field goals (417 of 468), one of the highest marks in league history. He holds the NFL record for the longest made field goal, a 66-yarder against the Detroit Lions in 2021, and was selected to seven Pro Bowls with five All-Pro honors during his time in Baltimore.
His final season with the Ravens was the worst of his career, however. Tucker made just 22 of 30 field goals in 2024, a career-low 73.3 percent, and Baltimore released him in May 2025. He served a 10-game suspension last season under the NFL’s personal conduct policy and has not appeared in a regular-season game since 2024, though he is eligible to play immediately. Tucker had previously tried out for the New Orleans Saints, Indianapolis Colts and New York Jets without landing a contract.
Butker remains Kansas City’s starter for now, and Tucker opens his Chiefs tenure on the practice squad, where the team can evaluate him in practice before deciding whether a change is needed. The Chiefs (5-1) host the Denver Broncos (5-2) on Sunday in a matchup of the AFC West’s top two teams, and every kick could matter in a division race this tight.
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The Pittsburgh Steelers have spent the last month winning games with an incomplete roster. The cavalry is finally in sight.
Wide receiver Roman Wilson and defensive tackle Derrick Harmon are nearing the end of their required four-game stays on injured reserve, and Pittsburgh’s upcoming bye week falls at the perfect time to welcome them back. The Steelers play once more in Week 8 before the bye gives their returning players an extra week to get ready.
Pittsburgh has weathered the absences well, beating the teams it was supposed to beat, including the New Orleans Saints 16-10 in the NFL’s first game in Paris. But the holes have been real. At receiver, the Steelers lost Michael Pittman Jr. to injured reserve in Week 5 after he aggravated a foot injury, and Wilson went down with a finger injury in the second half of that same week and landed on IR as well. Rookie Germie Bernard has been asked to carry a bigger role behind DK Metcalf ever since.
Not every return is on schedule. Reports indicate there is a chance Pittman misses the rest of the season, and defensive lineman Sebastian Joseph-Day’s return timeline remains unknown. But Wilson and Harmon would restore two rotation pieces at positions where Pittsburgh has been stretching its depth for a month.
Head coach Mike McCarthy likes where his roster stands as the reinforcements approach.
“We’ve got the right guys,” McCarthy said during his weekly press conference. “We’ve got a really great mix of veterans and young guys, and you’re just seeing it come together.”
The Steelers built their record without some of their best young players. If Wilson and Harmon come off the bye at full strength, the team that takes the field for the second half of the season will be deeper than the one that survived the first half.
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