Cairo Santos

Cairo Santos
No. 5 Kansas City Chiefs
Position: Placekicker
Personal information
Date of birth: (1991-11-12) 12 November 1991
Place of birth: Limeira, São Paulo, Brazil
Height: 5 ft 8 in (1.73 m)
Weight: 160 lb (73 kg)
Career information
High school: St. Joseph Academy (FL)
College: Tulane
Undrafted: 2014
Career history
Roster status: Active
Career highlights and awards
NFL
  • Most points by a rookie player in Kansas City Chiefs history (113 points)
  • Most field goals made (25) by a rookie kicker in Kansas City Chiefs history (tied)
  • Team record for most field goals in a game (7, 4 October 2015)
  • Tied 2nd place NFL history for most field goals in a single game (7, tied with 5 players)
College
Other awards and honors
Career NFL statistics as of Week 12, 2016
FG Made: 80
FG Attempted: 95
FG %: 84.2
Long Field Goal: 54
Player stats at NFL.com

Cairo Fernandes Santos (born 12 November 1991)[1] is a Brazilian professional American football placekicker for the Kansas City Chiefs of the National Football League (NFL). Santos was signed by the Chiefs as an undrafted free agent in 2014. He played in college at Tulane. He is the first Brazilian born player in NFL history.[2]

Early life

Born in Limeira, in the state of São Paulo, Brazil,[3][4] Santos was unfamiliar with American football until he moved to St. Augustine, Florida, as a foreign exchange student. Originally Santos planned to stay at St. Joseph's Academy for one year to learn English, but soon found that the kicking skills he had developed playing soccer in Brazil translated well to field goal kicking in American football. With the opportunity to earn a college scholarship, Santos remained in Florida, sharpening his kicking skills through high school.[5]

College career

Santos committed to Tulane on 22 January 2010. Santos also received interest from Georgia Tech, Jacksonville, and Miami (OH). Santos played in all 12 games his freshman year and was named to the Conference USA All-Freshman Team and was honorable-mention All C-USA after leading the Green Wave in points scored while making 13 of his 16 field goal attempts, 32 of his 33 PATs, and handling kick off duties. In his sophomore season, Santos played in all 13 games and finished second on the team in scoring making 11/18 field goals and 33/34 PATs while handling kickoffs and punting duties averaging 41 yards a punt.[6]

The 2012 was a breakout season for Santos as he went 26 of 27 on PATs (his only miss was blocked) and a perfect 21 of 21 on field goals, including a school record 57-yard field goal. He became only the second kicker to make 20+ in a season without a miss. 12 of those field goals were from 40-plus yards and 2 from 50-plus and 31 of his 55 kickoffs went for touchbacks.[7] At the end of the season, Santos was named consensus All-American[8] and received the Lou Groza Award for the nation's outstanding placekicker.[9]

Professional career

Kansas City Chiefs

2014 season: rookie season

Santos was signed as an undrafted free agent by the Kansas City Chiefs on 19 May 2014.[10] He was named the Chiefs kicker on 30 August 2014, beating veteran Ryan Succop for the position. On 7 September 2014, he became the first Brazilian born player ever to play in a NFL regular season game[11] in a 26–10 loss to the Tennessee Titans, also kicking his first career field goal. After missing 2 field goals in his first two games, he made his next 13 field goal attempts, including a clutch game winning field goal with 26 seconds left in a Week 7 win over the San Diego Chargers and a 53-yard field goal the following week against the St. Louis Rams.

Santos was the team season scoring leader (113 points), ahead of running back Jamaal Charles (84 points).[12]

2015 season: Playoffs appearance

In a 21–36 loss to the Cincinnati Bengals on 4 October 2015 (Week 4), Santos kicked a team record seven field goals, including two over 50 yards. His seven field goals in the game is the second all-time in a single game, which he shares with five other players.[13] The points scored by Santos in the game were the only points scored by the Chiefs during the game.

In Week 10, Santos made five field goals of six attempts against the Denver Broncos, the second game in the season with at least five field goals made (franchise record, tied with Jan Stenerud).[14]

In Week 15, Santos kicked a 53-yard field goal against the Baltimore Ravens tying his longest field goal career. This was the fourth field goal with at least 50 yards in the season (franchise record, tied with Nick Lowery).[15]

Santos was the team season scoring leader (129 points) and sixth in NFL season. He also was the fifth (tied) kicker with most field goals made in NFL season.[16][17]

In a 30–0 victory against the Houston Texans in the AFC Wild Card game, Cairo Santos became the first Brazilian player to play in Playoffs game. He made all three field goal and three extra point attempts.[18] He kicked two 49-yard field goal, the longest field goals in the Chiefs postseason history.[15]

In his second game in postseason, Santos made two field goals in a 20–27 loss to the New England Patriots in the AFC Divisional Playoffs game.

2016 season

In Week 2, Santos kicked a 54-yard field goal in a 12–19 loss to the Houston Texans, his longest field goal career.[19]

Santos kicked his fourth field goal in the game, a 37-yard field goal as time expired, and the Chiefs overcame a 17-point deficit to top the Carolina Panthers 20–17 in Week 10.[20]

Santos made two field goals in the 30–27 overtime victory against Denver Broncos including a 34-yard field goal attempt with five seconds left in Week 12.[21]

In November, Cairo Santos was named AFC Special Teams Player of the Month for the first time in his career after converting 11 of 11 field goals and all 5 extra points.[22]

Career statistics

Regular season

Season Team Games Overall FGs PATs Kickoffs Points
GP Blk Lng FG Att FGM Pct XP Att XPM Pct Blk KO Avg TB Ret Avg
2014 Kansas City Chiefs 16 0 53 30 25 83.3 38 38 100.0 0 80 63.6 26 53 24.1 113
2015 Kansas City Chiefs 16 1 53 37 30 81.1 41 39 95.1 0 90 63.8 40 46 24.7 129
2016 Kansas City Chiefs 11 0 54 28 25 89.3 22 21 95.5 0 59 62.8 36 20 25.6 96
Total 43 1 54 95 80 84.2 101 98 97.0 0 229 63.5 102 119 24.6 338

Field goals by distance

Season Team 20–29 yards 30–39 yards40–49 yards50+ yards
Made Att % Made Att % Made Att % Made Att %
2014 Kansas City Chiefs 10 10 100 6 7 85.7 7 10 70.0 1 2 50.0
2015 Kansas City Chiefs 7 8 87.5 10 10 100 9 11 81.8 4 8 50.0
2016 Kansas City Chiefs 6 7 85.7 11 12 91.7 6 7 85.7 2 2 100
Total 23 25 92.0 27 29 93.1 22 28 78.6 7 12 58.3

Postseason

Season Team Games Overall FGs PATs Kickoffs Points
GP Blk Lng FG Att FGM Pct XP Att XPM Pct Blk KO Avg TB Ret Avg
2015 Kansas City Chiefs 2 0 49 5 5 100 5 5 100 0 12 60.8 10 1 26.0 20
Total 2 0 49 5 5 100 5 5 100 0 12 60.8 10 1 26.0 20

Accomplishments and records

NFL

Kansas City Chiefs

College

Personal life

On 15 September 2013, Santos' father died in a plane crash in Brazil. "I used to talk to my dad everyday, all the time. We were very close. He was my biggest fan, very supportive of my career, always wishing me to do well, no matter what. He will always be there for me. I know. After each successful kick or game I always think about him. I point my fingers to the sky in honor of him."[37]

References

  1. ↑ "Cairo Santos Player bio". TulaneGreenWave.com.
  2. ↑ "NFL International Series: Cairo Santos' journey from Brazil". BBC.com. 31 October 2015. Retrieved 17 November 2016.
  3. ↑ Velasco, Leo (2 September 2014). "Após sonhar com 10 do Fla e do Brasil, Cairo Santos será 1º brasileiro da NFL". www.globoesporte.globo.com. GloboEsporte. Retrieved 22 February 2015.
  4. ↑ Ferreira, Edmar (29 January 2015). "Limeirense da NFL treinará nas férias para melhorar chute". www.gazetainfo.com.br. Gazeta de Limeira. Retrieved 22 February 2015.
  5. ↑ "Kicking it in America: How Cairo Santos turned a one-year stay into a possible career in the NFL". Yahoo Sports. 6 December 2012.
  6. ↑ "Cairo Santos". Tulane Green Wave. Retrieved 19 October 2014.
  7. ↑ "Cairo Santos Bio – Tulane University Official Athletic Site". tulanegreenwave.com.
  8. ↑ "College Football All-America Team 2012". SB Nation. Retrieved 19 October 2014.
  9. ↑ "Tulane Kicker Cairo Santos wins Lou Groza Award". Nola. Retrieved 19 October 2014.
  10. ↑ "Chiefs Sign Webb and Three Rookie Free Agents". KCChiefs,com.
  11. ↑ "Chiefs rookie kicker Cairo Santos makes history for Brazil". KansasCity.com.
  12. ↑ "2014 STATISTICAL REVIEW" (PDF). kcchiefs.com. Retrieved 5 October 2015.
  13. 1 2 "NFL Single Game Total Field Goals Made Leaders". pro-football-reference.com. Retrieved 4 October 2015.
  14. 1 2 "Most games 5+ FG season Chiefs". pro-football-reference.com. Retrieved 16 November 2015.
  15. 1 2 3 4 5 "ALL-TIME RECORDS" (PDF). kcchiefs.com. Retrieved 21 December 2015.
  16. ↑ "2015 NFL Scoring Statistics". nfl.com. Retrieved 4 January 2016.
  17. ↑ "2015 NFL FG Statistics". nfl.com. Retrieved 4 January 2016.
  18. ↑ "Brasileiro acerta tudo e ajuda os Chiefs a chegar à semi de conferência da NFL". globoesporte.com (in Portuguese). 9 January 2016. Retrieved 9 January 2016.
  19. ↑ "NFL faz correção, e Cairo Santos tem confirmado recorde pessoal na carreira". globoesporte.com (in Portuguese). 22 September 2016. Retrieved 26 September 2016.
  20. ↑ "Late turnover lifts Chiefs to 20-17 win over Panthers". foxsports.com. 13 November 2016. Retrieved 16 November 2016.
  21. ↑ "Watch Cairo Santos bank in unbelievable winner off upright as Chiefs stun Broncos in OT". foxsports.com. 13 November 2016. Retrieved 28 November 2016.
  22. 1 2 "Marcus Mariota, Kirk Cousins among Players of Month". nfl.com. 1 December 2016. Retrieved 1 December 2016.
  23. ↑ "Most field goals made, no misses, game". pro-football-reference.com. Retrieved 11 September 2016.
  24. ↑ "Most points by a rookie Chiefs". pro-football-reference.com. Retrieved 11 September 2016.
  25. ↑ "Most points in first two seasons Chiefs". pro-football-reference.com. Retrieved 11 September 2016.
  26. ↑ "Most points by a kicker, game Chiefs". pro-football-reference.com. Retrieved 11 September 2016.
  27. ↑ "Most FG made by a rookie Chiefs". pro-football-reference.com. Retrieved 11 September 2016.
  28. ↑ "Most FG made in first two seasons Chiefs". pro-football-reference.com. Retrieved 11 September 2016.
  29. ↑ "Most FG made in first three seasons Chiefs". pro-football-reference.com. Retrieved 28 November 2016.
  30. ↑ "Most FG made game Chiefs". pro-football-reference.com. Retrieved 11 September 2016.
  31. ↑ "Most FG made game playoffs Chiefs". pro-football-reference.com. Retrieved 11 September 2016.
  32. ↑ "Most FG made, no misses, game Chiefs". pro-football-reference.com. Retrieved 11 September 2016.
  33. ↑ "Most FG attempted game Chiefs". pro-football-reference.com. Retrieved 11 September 2016.
  34. ↑ "Most games 4+ FG season Chiefs". pro-football-reference.com. Retrieved 15 November 2016.
  35. ↑ "Most FG made season Chiefs". pro-football-reference.com. Retrieved 11 September 2016.
  36. ↑ "Most points by a kicker season Chiefs". pro-football-reference.com. Retrieved 11 September 2016.
  37. ↑ "Após superar morte do pai, paulista quer ser o primeiro '100% brasileiro' a jogar na NFL". ESPN.

External links

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