The Chiefs say they’ve liked Spencer Shrader since the offseason

Football was never the plan for the Kansas City Chiefs’ newest placekicker, Spencer Shrader; football was.

He played many sports growing up, including one year of high school football, but in his mind it was all just a fun side hustle on the way to his real goal – to play the beautiful game alongside the world’s best players on the international stage.

After high school, he traveled to Brazil and Canada and played semi-pro soccer for a time, but that was as far as his journey took him. When he returned home to Lithia, Florida, he had a decision to make.

What did he want with his life now that football was off the table?

He chose to go on as a kicker at the University of South Florida – where after two seasons he earned a scholarship. After graduating from South Florida, he played for Notre Dame Fighting Irish as a degree transfer for the 2023 season.

It was a long road, but his efforts caught the eyes of NFL executives.

Despite having an entrenched veteran at placekicker Harrison Butker, the Chiefs do their due diligence every offseason by scouting every rookie placekicker coming out in the draft. Shrader was the best player on their roster last season.

“We liked him early,” Chiefs special teams coordinator and assistant head coach Dave Toub said while speaking to the media Thursday. “You look at the consistency of his technique. You know, the rotation of the ball, the leg strength.”

So when Butker landed on IR due to a knee injury, the Chiefs picked up the phone. What happened next was a whirlwind.

Shrader played for New York Jets on their training team.

“I got a text from my agent and he said, ‘Hey, call me right away,'” Shrader recalled.

Shrader picked up the phone and dialed his agent’s number; when his agent responded, he told him the Kansas City Chiefs wanted to sign him on their active roster to fill in while Butker recovered from his injury.

Shrader had a decision to make: should he stay on the Jets’ practice squad or take a leap of faith and join the defense Super Bowl Masters, knowing that this experience was for a limited time and that his place on the team had an expiration date?

After praying and talking with his family, Shrader decided to jump to join the Chiefs. The news broke just after 4 p.m. Thursday, and by 7 p.m. he was on a plane to Kansas City.

Shrader arrived at the facility Friday morning to get his medical clearance and to get in a single workout before joining his new team on a trip to Buffalo for their biggest game of the regular season.

Despite being nervous, he said he leaned on his teammates’ abilities for confidence.

“Obviously these guys are so good and they’re so professional. There’s never a doubt that the ball is going to be where it’s going to be. So as long as my timing is good and I’m handling my business, it’s okay, so you just trust it going into the game like you’re high-level athletes.”

The Chiefs like what they’ve seen from Shrader so far.

“He hit a couple of 65-yarders in practice the other day,” Toub said. “So he’s got a really strong leg. In fact, we had to move him back when we first started hitting extra points because we were hitting them over the net — we were losing footballs.”

Shrader understands that he is joining a team with the single-minded goal of winning the Super Bowl.

“I will never take it for granted,” Shrader said. “That was one of the special things about coming here is that you have a tremendous amount of respect for the people who are here and what has been built.”

Shrader knows his time with the Chiefs is limited, but he also knows that if he does his job, he has a chance to be a part of something special.

“I just want to come in and do the best I can for this team with the time I have — definitely grateful for this opportunity, but not so overwhelmed that I’m not able to, you know, focus and understand. I have a job to do and still (could) be called on a daily basis.”

While he’s still green and mostly untested as a pro, Shrader said he’s not experiencing imposter syndrome.

“I think every time you’re in a situation like this, (you) just get a little bit more confidence, just a little bit more like, ‘Oh yeah, I get this. I can do this .I can do this.’

“And you just keep doing your best even when things don’t go your way. At some point you understand that it is also part of the process. There is an option to make you stronger or weaker. You must choose.”

So while his time with the Chiefs may be fleeting, Shrader is choosing to live in the moment.

“The way I look at it like everything is at least day by day — tomorrow’s not guaranteed. So I don’t get too caught up in thinking, you know, am I going to be here a week, two weeks, four weeks ?

“For me, it’s just maximizing the day, doing the best with the opportunity that I have. And then, God willing, you know, I’ll get another opportunity tomorrow, wake up and get back to work.”