Cairo Santos Bio
Cairo Fernandes Santos is a Brazilian-American professional American football placekicker for the Chicago Bears of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Tulane Green Wave and signed with the Kansas City Chiefs as an undrafted free agent in 2014. Santos is the first Brazilian-born player to appear in an NFL regular-season game and later the first to play in an NFL postseason game.
Across his professional career, Santos has spent time with the Kansas City Chiefs, Chicago Bears, New York Jets, Los Angeles Rams, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and Tennessee Titans. Since rejoining the Bears in 2020, he has been one of the most accurate kickers in the league and remains their full-time kicker heading into the 2025 season.
Early Life and Background
Early Life and Background
Cairo Fernandes Santos was born on 12 November 1991 in Limeira, in the state of São Paulo, Brazil. He was raised in Brasília, where his father worked as a pilot for Varig. Growing up in Brazil, Santos was unfamiliar with American football and focused on soccer, where he developed the leg strength that would later define his career.
At the age of 15, Santos moved to St. Augustine, Florida, as a foreign exchange student. He enrolled at St. Joseph Academy, planning to stay for one year to learn English. While in high school, he discovered that the kicking skills he had developed playing soccer translated well to American football field goal kicking. With a clear path to a college scholarship, Santos remained in Florida to sharpen those skills.
Path to American Football
Santos committed to Tulane University on 22 January 2010, also drawing interest from Georgia Tech, Jacksonville, and Miami of Ohio. As a freshman, he played in all 12 games for the Green Wave and was named to the Conference USA All-Freshman Team after leading the team in scoring with 13 of 16 field goals and 32 of 33 PATs.
As a sophomore, Santos handled kickoff, punting, and field goal duties and finished second on the team in scoring. The 2012 season proved his breakthrough year at Tulane. He went a perfect 21 of 21 on field goal attempts, including a school-record 57-yard field goal, and made 26 of 27 PATs. Santos was named a consensus All-American and won the Lou Groza Award as the nation’s most outstanding placekicker.
Cairo Santos Career
Early Career (2014–2015)
The Kansas City Chiefs signed Santos as an undrafted free agent on 19 May 2014, and he won the starting job over veteran Ryan Succop. On 7 September 2014, he became the first Brazilian-born player to play in an NFL regular-season game, converting a field goal in a loss to the Tennessee Titans. He finished his rookie season with 25 of 30 field goals and a perfect 38 of 38 on extra points, scoring 113 points, then a Chiefs rookie record.
In 2015, Santos tied the second-most field goals in a single game with seven against the Cincinnati Bengals, including two over 50 yards. He earned AFC Special Teams Player of the Month honors in November 2016 and set Chiefs postseason records with two 49-yard field goals in a Wild Card win over the Houston Texans. A groin injury limited him early in 2017, and the Chiefs waived him from injured reserve on 30 September 2017.
Kansas City Chiefs (2014–2017)
Santos’s tenure with the Chiefs established him as a reliable NFL kicker and a trailblazer for Brazilian-born players. He converted all 38 of his extra point attempts in his rookie season and went 25 of 30 on field goals, leading all rookies in scoring. Over his first two full seasons, he showed range and accuracy from beyond 50 yards and a knack for clutch kicks, including a game-winner against the San Diego Chargers in his rookie year.
By the time the Chiefs parted ways with him in late 2017, Santos had set several franchise postseason marks. He was the first Brazilian-born player to appear in an NFL playoff game, and his two 49-yard field goals in the 2015 Wild Card round remain among the longest in Chiefs postseason history. His release from injured reserve opened a transitional chapter that would take him across several teams over the next three seasons.
Chicago Bears, First Stint (2017)
On 20 November 2017, Santos signed with the Chicago Bears. He appeared in five games across the 2017 season with two teams, converting all 14 extra point attempts and 4 of 5 field goal attempts. A groin injury suffered during pregame warmups against the San Francisco 49ers ended his season and led to a stint on injured reserve.
New York Jets, Los Angeles Rams, and Tampa Bay Buccaneers (2018)
On 15 March 2018, Santos signed a one-year contract with the New York Jets but was released on 22 August 2018. He quickly found work with the Los Angeles Rams, where he drilled a game-winning 39-yard field goal against the Seattle Seahawks in his first game. After two appearances, the Rams released him once Greg Zuerlein returned from injury.
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers signed Santos on 12 November 2018. In a Week 15 loss to the Baltimore Ravens, he made his 100th career field goal. In 2018, across two teams, he converted 22 of 23 extra points and 14 of 18 field goals, and he re-signed with Tampa Bay in March 2019 before being released at the end of training camp.
Tennessee Titans (2019)
Santos signed with the Tennessee Titans on 4 September 2019 after Ryan Succop was placed on injured reserve. He was perfect in his debut, hitting two field goals and all five extra points in a win over the Cleveland Browns. A Week 5 performance against the Buffalo Bills in which he missed four field goal attempts led to his release the following day. He finished 2019 having converted all 12 extra points and 4 of 9 field goals across five games.
Chicago Bears Era (2020–Present)
Santos returned to the Chicago Bears on 25 August 2020 and worked his way from the practice squad to the active roster. He made an immediate impact, including a game-winning 38-yard field goal against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Week 5 and a career-long 55-yarder against the Carolina Panthers in Week 6, earning NFC Special Teams Player of the Week honors. He finished 2020 by making 36 of 37 extra points and 30 of 32 field goals, while drilling a franchise-record 27 consecutive field goals during the season.
In March 2021, Santos signed a three-year extension with the Bears worth $9 million. He began the 2021 season by making his first 13 field goal attempts, extending his streak to 40 consecutive made field goals before a 65-yard attempt at the end of a Week 9 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers fell short. He finished 26 of 30 on field goals and 27 of 28 on extra points. In 2022, he again earned NFC Special Teams Player of the Week honors with a perfect day against the New England Patriots and converted 21 of 23 field goals and 27 of 32 extra points.
On 23 December 2023, Santos signed a four-year extension worth $16 million, including $9.5 million guaranteed, that runs through the 2027 season. In 2024, he converted 21 of 25 field goal attempts and all but one of his extra points, while setting a single-season Bears record with eight field goals of 50 yards or longer. He also played a central role in the Bears’ season-ending victory over the Green Bay Packers, hitting a 51-yard field goal as time expired at Lambeau Field.
Driving Style and Strengths
Santos is widely regarded as one of the most accurate kickers in Bears history, with exceptional range from beyond 50 yards and a track record of clutch game-winning kicks. He has thrived in adverse conditions, including a December 2024 game against the Packers in which swirling winds caused the goal posts to sway, and he has been named NFC Special Teams Player of the Week multiple times for his late-game heroics.
Notable Events and Milestones
In 2024, Santos surpassed Robbie Gould for the most field goals of at least 50 yards in Bears history, reaching 24 such kicks for the franchise. He is the only Brazilian-born player to appear in an NFL regular-season game and in an NFL playoff game, and he set a Chiefs rookie scoring record with 113 points in 2014.
Cairo Santos Career Wins
While placekickers are not measured by traditional win counts, Cairo Santos has authored several of the most memorable game-winning field goals in recent NFL history. His 39-yard kick in his first game with the Los Angeles Rams gave Los Angeles a 33–31 victory over the Seattle Seahawks, and his late field goal against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2020 helped the Chicago Bears seal a key win.
NFL Highlights
Santos’s most dramatic NFL moment came in the 2024 season finale, when he made a 51-yard field goal as time expired to give the Bears a 24–22 win over the Green Bay Packers at Lambeau Field. He also drilled a game-winner against the Minnesota Vikings in Week 11 of 2025 from 48 yards and converted a perfect 4-for-4 on field goals in a one-point win over the Las Vegas Raiders earlier that season.
Other Wins and Performances
In college at Tulane, Santos posted a perfect 21-of-21 season on field goals in 2012 and won the Lou Groza Award, becoming only the second kicker in NCAA history to make at least 20 field goals in a season without a miss. He represented the school at the 2014 NFLPA Collegiate Bowl and connected on a 39-yard field goal during that all-star event.
Cairo Santos Family
Family Background and Racing Lineage
Santos was raised in Brasília by his father, who worked as a pilot for Varig. The family had no ties to American football or to the sport of horse racing, and Santos did not encounter football until he moved to Florida as a teenager.
Personal Life
On 15 September 2013, Santos’s father died in a plane crash in Brazil. After each successful kick or game, Santos has said he points his fingers to the sky in honor of his father. During the 2016 My Cause My Cleats campaign, he honored Chapecoense, a Brazilian association football club that lost 71 people in a 2016 aircraft disaster in Colombia. Santos is a naturalized U.S. citizen.
2025 Season Performance
The 2025 season has been a dramatic campaign for Cairo Santos and the Chicago Bears. In the season opener against the Minnesota Vikings, he made a 42-yard field goal but missed another from 50 in the fourth quarter, and a late kickoff that failed to reach the end zone contributed to a narrow loss. He rebounded with a perfect 4-for-4 performance on field goals in a 25–24 win over the Las Vegas Raiders in Week 4, but a quadriceps injury suffered in that game forced him to miss the next two contests.
Santos returned against the Baltimore Ravens and converted 2 of 3 field goal tries, and he later went 4 of 5 against the Vikings in Week 11, including a 48-yard game-winner as time expired in a 19–17 victory. That kick was his 24th from at least 50 yards as a Bear, surpassing Robbie Gould for the franchise record. A Week 16 game against the Green Bay Packers at Soldier Field tested his craft in heavy winds that visibly swayed the goal posts, and Santos made all three of his field goal tries while recovering his own onside kick to help set up a game-tying touchdown, earning NFC Special Teams Player of the Week honors.
Signed through the 2027 season, Santos remains a central figure in the Bears’ plans under head coach Ben Johnson. His combination of accuracy, range, and poise in pressure moments has made him one of the most reliable kickers in the NFC and a cornerstone of Chicago’s special teams unit as the team pushes toward the postseason.