Why was Justin Reid kicking? Chiefs safety showcases impressive leg after Harrison Butker injury

Kevin Skiver

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Why was Justin Reid kicking? Chiefs safety showcases impressive leg after Harrison Butker injury image

The Chiefs took a hit Sunday against the Cardinals when kicker Harrison Butker was carted to the locker room in the first quarter with a left ankle injury.

While most teams would have had to figure out who their emergency kicker would be, Kansas City had an ace in the hole: safety Justin Reid, who took over the kicking duties until Butker returned to hit a 54-yard field goal at the end of the first half.

Reid, a fifth-year veteran who played his first four seasons with the Texans, was signed to a three-year, $31.5 million contract by the Chiefs this offseason. It appeared as if they were going to get their money's worth just from Reid filling in for Butker. 

"You know, we might need to talk about putting some incentives in there at this point," Reid joked in his postgame press conference.

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The safety boomed an extra point before bombing the ensuing kickoff through the uprights.

Unfortunately for him and the Chiefs, he badly missed on another PAT kick in the second quarter. The miss didn't matter as the Chiefs rolled to a 44-21 victory.

Why was Justin Reid kicking?

The Chiefs had to turn to an emergency kicker with Butker injured. Reid — not to be confused with free-agent safety Eric Reid — is better than most emergency kickers, however.

He was a kicker in high school before becoming an emergency kicker with Stanford, and over the past two seasons he has gotten more opportunities in the NFL.

"They let me know Butker hurt his ankle and that I was up, and you know, it's like, 'OK, let's ride,'" he said. "I knew I was ready for it. Never short of confidence."

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Reid already had some NFL kicking tape before Sunday. In last year's preseason with the Texans, when he sent a kickoff to the 1.

After that kick, Reid was thrilled saying he was ready for a field goal next time and that it was the most fun he'd had in the preseason.

Although Reid is a very good safety, it's clear kicking is his passion. He hit a 65-yarder in practice, albeit off a tee, last August.

Reid also kicked in the 2022 preseason for the Chiefs.

While all of that is mostly teams having fun in the preseason, it was clearly a tryout for Reid, and he nailed it. Thankfully for the Chiefs, Butker's injury wasn't too serious, but seeing someone have as much fun as Reid did is downright infectious. Reid ultimately lived his dream by kicking in a regular-season game, and it was nothing if not fun to watch.

"I really had a ton of fun out there," Reid said. "It threw me back to my high school days."

Kevin Skiver

Kevin Skiver Photo

Kevin Skiver has been a content producer at Sporting News since 2021. He previously worked at CBS Sports as a trending topics writer, and now writes various pieces on MLB, the NFL, the NBA, and college sports. He enjoys hiking and eating, not necessarily in that order.