Cairo Santos

Cairo Fernandes Santos (born November 12, 1991)^[3] is a Brazilian American football placekicker who currently plays for the Kansas City Chiefs. Santos was signed by the Chiefs as undrafted free agent in 2014. He played in college at Tulane University.

Early life

Born in Limeira, state of São Paulo, Brazil, 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.^[4]

College career

Santos committed to Tulane on January 22, 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.^[5]

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.^[6] At the end of the season, Santos was named consensus All-American^[7] and received the Lou Groza Award for the nation's outstanding placekicker.^[8]

Professional career

Kansas City Chiefs

Santos was signed as an undrafted free agent by the Kansas City Chiefs on May 19, 2014.^[9] He was named the Chiefs kicker on August 30, 2014, beating veteran Ryan Succop for the position. On September 7, 2014, he became the first Brazilian born player ever to play in a NFL regular season game^[10] 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 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.

Personal life

On September 15, 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.”^[11]

References

External links

• Tulane Bio
• Kansas City Chiefs Bio
• Cairo Santos on Twitter