The biggest highlight of the NFL preseason this year just came from a kicker and it happened on Saturday night when Harrison Butker drilled a 69-yard field goal just before halftime in the Chiefs‘ game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. 

And yes, you read that correctly: Butker hit from 69 YARDS. 

The NFL record for longest field goal is 68 yards and Butker actually topped that with his kick, but he won’t be getting his name etched into the NFL record book, because preseason kicks don’t officially count. Due to that rule, Cam Little’s 68-yard field goal from last season still stands as the longest kick in NFL history. 

Even though it won’t go down in the record book, Butker’s kick was still wildly impressive and that’s mostly because the ball easily cleared the crossbar. Butker absolutely smashed the kick — the ball hit the net behind the field goal posts — and his attempt likely would have been good from 75 yards or even further. 

You know what, let’s stop talking about the kick and just watch it. 

Butker only got the field goal attempt because the Chiefs’ defense made a fourth-down stop late in the first half. With under 10 seconds left to play in the second quarter, the Buccaneers were facing a fourth-and-5 from Kansas City’s 49-yard line and they decided to go for it. The Bucs ended up failing on the fourth down after Jake Browning threw an incomplete pass and that gave Kansas City the ball with just three seconds left. At that point, Andy Reid decided to sent out Butker. 

The 69-yarder was one of three that Butker hit against Tampa Bay to go along with a 58-yarder and 45-yarder, but he also missed a 43-yard kick in the fourth quarter of Kansas City’s 16-15 loss. 

Although Butker won’t be getting his name in the NFL record book, he will certainly have some bragging rights and that’s because 69-yarder is tied for the second-longest field goal made in an actual game in the history of football. 

The first American football game was played in 1869 and in the 157 years since then, only three kickers have hit a field goal of at least 69 yards in a game: 

1. Cam Little hit a 70-yarder for the Jaguars during the 2025 preseason. 

T-2. Harrison Butker hit a 69-yarder on Saturday night (The first clip we showed you at the top was from the Chiefs’ broadcast team, so now, let’s see what the Buccaneers’ broadcast team had to say about the kick)

T-2. Abilene Christian kicker Ove Johansson hit a 69-yarder in 1976. And in case you’re wonder, yes, there is footage of Johansson’s kick. 

College kickers were allowed to use a 1- to 2-inch kicking block until 1989 when they were banned. Before the ban, kickers were essentially kicking off a tee as long as the holder was able to get the ball in the right spot. The five longest field goals in college history, including Johansson’s, all came when the kicking block was legal.

With their field goals being kicked off the ground, Little and Butker are in a league of their own. 

Now that Butker has a 69-yarder under his belt, we might want to keep an eye on him this year, because he could go off like Little did last season for the Jaguars. Although Little’s 70-yard kick in the preseason didn’t count in the NFL record book, he ended up breaking the record anyway. The Jaguars kicker drilled a 68-yarder last November to break the record for longest field goal in NFL history. The mark had been held by Justin Tucker, who hit a 66-yarder in 2021. Little also hit a 67-yarder in Week 18, and thanks to those two kicks, Little now officially has the two longest field goals in NFL history. The 67-yarder also holds the mark for longest OUTDOOR field goal in NFL history (His 68-yarder came indoors in Las Vegas).  

Butker’s career long in a regular-season game is 62 yards, so he definitely has a big leg and it won’t be surprising if he tops that number this season. Maybe he’ll even break Little’s record, because at the rate things are going, it seems like it will only be a matter of time before an NFL kicker drills a 70-yarder in a regular-season game. 

Why all the booming kicks?

One reason we’re seeing more long kicks is thanks to a new K-ball rule that the NFL implemented last season. Under the new rule, each team is given 60 kicking footballs (K-Balls) at the beginning of the season. This allows each team to break the ball in before they use it. Since the ball can be used in practice, that generally softens it up. Teams are also allowed to use a brush to try and rub down the bumps (Every football is covered by thousands of tiny bumps). A football that’s broken in tends to fly better and a smoother ball allows the kicker to make better contact, which leads to better kicks. 

Under the old rule that existed from 1999 until 2024, teams were given three brand new footballs ON GAME DAY and they had roughly one hour to break them in. The new balls were stiff, which made them more difficult to kick. It was the difference between using a brand new baseball glove and a worn in glove. 

Last season, almost every kicker seemed to agree that the new rule was adding five to 10 yards to their kicks. Bengals special teams coordinator Darrin Simmons has been an NFL assistant since 1998, so he’s seen everything, and he thinks the new rule could lead to even longer kicks going forward. 

“I believe it makes a big difference and I think that’s why the distances on some of these long field goals went up and I think it will continue to just skyrocket as long as that rule stays in place the way it is,” Simmons told CBS Sports and several other outlets in late July. 

Records are made to be broken and thanks to the NFL’s new K-ball rule, it won’t be surprising at all if the record for longest field goal goes down for the second straight season.