Gaby,
The Chiefs starting kicker, Harrison Butker, is one of the league's best, but he is hurt. The Chiefs have now cut his replacement Matt Ammendola:
Fresh off of missing an extra point and field goal in a loss against the Indianapolis Colts, the Kansas City Chiefs cut kicker Matt Ammendola.
www.kshb.com
This is what happens when your kicker gets hurt. When a kicker gets hurt it's a huge problem for any team because (1) in a salary capped league you can't afford to have a good kicker as a backup especially since it's a generally low injury position, and (2) when a kicker does get hurt, it's a scrap heap guy who gets brought in most of the time. The scrap heap guys are part of a league scrap heap of released and cut players and scout teamers who are essentially signing contracts as stopgaps for a few games before being cut and going back to the scrap heap. There is a top echelon of kickers but after that they are like relief pitchers in baseball, fungible and wildly inconsistent guys.
Kickers are extremely important and valuable players who can make or break a team, but teams usually only carry one reliable kicker. I remember around 8 years ago the Jets kicker got hurt and they must have cycled in 4-5 guys off the scrap heap, who were all terrible and all got cut after 1 or 2 games.
www.espn.com
