The Kansas City Chiefs recently placed backup kicker Spencer Shrader on IR while signing Matthew Wright to the active roster. On the surface, this doesn’t seem like that big of a deal. Yes, Harrison Butker is out for at least another week or two but most of the time, a backup kicker going on IR might not be given much of a thought.
Well, Reddit brought up an interesting point about the move. When discussing the Shrader to IR move on the Chiefs subreddit, someone pointed out that the Chiefs front office was smart to stash Shrader away on IR rather than just outright releasing him.
The user wrote that the reason why putting Shrader on IR was wise was “even if his injury is minor or short term, you don’t want to release him to allow a team like the Bills or Ravens to pick him up to replace their struggling kickers. You IR [Shrader] and corner the market on kickers and keep him unavailable the rest of the year from other teams.” Another user then wrote, “This is Belichick level gamesmanship and I love it.”
Placing Spencer Shrader on IR was a smart move for the Chiefs
The user is essentially saying that by the Chiefs not releasing Shrader and keeping him on IR despite not really having a need for him, they ensured that other threatening teams couldn’t get better. This truly is something that Bill Belichick would have done at the height of the New England Patriots dynasty.
The Chiefs lost Butker to a torn meniscus right before Kansas City’s match-up with the Bills in Week 11. Shrader then came in and converted all three extra point attempts in the eventual loss and then kicked the game-winner the next week against the Panthers. Unfortunately, the kicker injuries continued, as Shrader then went down with a hamstring injury.
Now it’s Matthew Wright’s time to shine and he’s a familiar face for Chiefs fans. Wright spent a brief time with the Chiefs during the 2022 season, kicking for the eventual Super Bowl champs in two games that year and going 3-for-4, including a game-winner of 59 yards.
While some might look at this latest news as Butker maybe not being on track to return, Andy Reid said otherwise when speaking to the media. That means that the Chiefs could be keeping Shrader around so that other teams can’t steal him and then dunk on K.C. for making him available later on. Respect.
