The Kansas City Chiefs will be officially without K Harrison Butker on Sunday against the Pittsburgh Steelers.

According to a report by Ian Rapoport of NFL Network, Butker will be excluded from the Week 16 game due to his vaccine status. Butker was placed on the reserve / COVID-19 list on Monday. He is not vaccinated by Rapoport, which means he will spend 10 mandatory days on the reserve / COVID-19 list in isolation before being allowed to be activated.

Fortunately, the Chiefs had the foresight to sign K Elliott Fry to the practice squad last week. When placing Butker on the reserve / COVID-19 roster, the team signed Fry to the 53-player roster. It signaled that the team expected to be Butker-free, but now we know the exact reason why.

Here’s a bit of history on Fry from our article on his signing to the 53-player roster:

“Fry recently spent time with the Atlanta Falcons also as COVID-19 insurance, but he made his professional football debut with the Alliance of American Football League, playing for the Orlando Apollos, earning a perfect 14-for-14 when he was with the now-defunct league. Since 2019, Fry has stopped over with the Chicago Bears, Baltimore Ravens, Carolina Panthers and Tampa Bay Buccaneers, but he is He first appeared in a professional game in 2020 with the Falcons, attempting a single 23-yard field goal, which he did, while getting 1v2 with extra points.

Even with a solid replacement at Fry, the Chiefs will miss Butker this week. He’s 22-for-25 on field goals this season and 41-for-43 on extra points. He’s been the most impressive at distance on hoops this season, breaking the franchise record for most 50-yard hoops in a single season.