“Surgery went great!” Butker tweeted. “Thank you for the prayers.”

Currently in his eighth season with the Chiefs, Butker was on his way to challenging his career high of 38 made field goals in a year. He was 18-for-20 through Kansas City’s first nine games of 2024 and 21-for-22 on extra points. Both of his field goal misses were from beyond 50 yards.

Butker’s recovery is expected to take three to four weeks. The Chiefs have already placed him on injured reserve, meaning he will miss at least four games beginning in Week 11 against the Buffalo Bills. He will be eligible to return in Week 15 when Kansas City travels to Ohio to face the Cleveland Browns.

In Butker’s absence, the Chiefs signed undrafted rookie Spencer Shrader to be their interim kicker. Despite being in his first year, Shrader is already on his third team after previous one-game stints with the Indianapolis Colts and New York Jets. He is 2-for-2 on his field goal attempts and 3-for-3 on extra points in his limited opportunities.

Chiefs face big test against Bills in Week 11

With the Chiefs’ next two games on the road, Butker will not travel with the team as they face the Bills and Carolina Panthers in the coming weeks. On paper, the Bills pose the biggest threat to Kansas City’s undefeated season with an 8-2 record of their own.

In 2023, the Chiefs and Bills split their two meetings, going 1-1 against each other. Buffalo took the regular season matchup 20-17 in Week 14 but Kansas City avenged the loss in the AFC divisional round of the playoffs. The Chiefs took the second matchup 27-24 to send them to the conference championship game.