Perhaps fate will one day give Cairo Santos the opportunity to step foot in the Maracaná to play a completely different kind of football than the one he breathed as a Flamengo fan. After not finding his way in Brazilian soccer, he ended up in the United States to try his luck with the round ball until one day some friends gave him an oval ball and he almost accidentally sent it four houses away. This is how the first Brazilian in the NFL revealed his future. At 34 years old, he is established in the Chicago Bears, one of the most involved in international expansion. He performs one of the most thankless jobs, the theoretical procedure of pocketing the ball between the sticks after his teammates have walked the field. And ask for the opportunity to do it at home. “It would be a surreal moment. I hope the NFL gives me that gift.”
The first time Santos encountered American football he didn’t know what he was seeing. “I was flipping through channels to look for a football game, but it was Sunday night and there wasn’t one. I turned on ESPN and saw a field with lines, it was a Super Bowl. I held on for a while and kept looking for football.” After the anecdote, it was time to take his projection as a footballer “to the next level.” “In Brazil there is so much competition that I couldn’t find a place. My father told me that he would pay for me to study for a year in the US. Let’s see what happens, but at least we invest in your education. And I started looking for a school with a good education program. soccer“That teenager sent resumes and videos to find accommodation in Florida with St. Joseph. Meanwhile, he assimilated the culture. “American football is the number one sport, so I started going out with friends and going to games.”
And they opened the door for him. “Dude, you got such a kick you could be a kicker [pateador]”He didn’t see it clearly. “I don’t want to get hurt, my dream is football.” They convinced him that the kicker He only goes out onto the field to kick and rarely comes into contact with his opponent. This is how one Sunday they stopped watching the NFL, went out to the garden and held the ball for him. “My friends started counting the steps and said I had walked 60 yards. It can’t be!” The next day, he spoke to the high school coach and gave him the opportunity: “Let’s see what you’re worth.” And he put a field goal —a field kick between the sticks— 50 yards. “Kid, you have the talent to get a scholarship and, who knows, you can be a professional. You’re good.” Thus their priorities changed. “My dream was football, but to have a paid education and be able to have a career…”
So he continued in Florida, went to Tulane University and came to the NFL in 2014 as a player for the Kansas City Chiefs. When he did, Santos, who attended the group interview by video call from Chicago, assumed his role as “ambassador” in his country. “It became a goal for me to grow the sport in my country. Brazilians consume more and more NFL and bringing a game there was a dream come true for thousands of fans.” The Corinthians Arena in São Paulo premiered in 2024 with the duel between the Philadelphia Eagles and Green Bay Packers to repeat on September 5 with the Los Angeles Chargers and the Chiefs. “When I try to convince people to watch me, I tell them that when you learn the rules, football takes strategy to another level. And the kickers They are a big part of how these matches are decided. It’s like scoring a penalty in the last minute. In the NFL we do it a lot.”
The objective of an attack is to reach the end of the field and thus achieve a touchdown. In that equation, the kicker It is a consolation when the defense stops advancing and the ball is close to look for the sticks. The points he scores with those kicks, the field goalor the extra conversion point after scoring the touchdown They are keys to the arithmetic of a result. It is common for teams to run out the clock in the last attack to score a final kick at the buzzer, because this does not give the opponent time and because the risk of making a mistake is lower than advancing with a pass or running. So the kicker is presumed to be successful. “I simulate kicks almost daily where I’m playing those kinds of moments in my head. You learn to talk to yourself and get into your routine because that helps block out the meaning of the kick or the noise. That way when you go out on the field it’s just you and your head, following that list of checks to treat that play like any other. That is the great objective.” Something that your colleagues know. “Always leave the kicker in his routine, don’t go to encourage him.”
For the moment, it works, as the Bears are playing their best season in almost two decades and enter the final weeks with all the ballots to play the playoffs and discuss the division title with the Packers. “We have earned the opportunity to play for big things this year.” That soccer-loving kid adored Ronaldinho, so he does not hide the hope of kicking one day at the renovated Camp Nou. “For many children my age, the peak of Brazilian football was seeing him play for Barcelona, it is one of the temples, we do not have stadiums in the NFL with so many spectators. I would sleep very happy that night saying that I played where he or Messi played.” A real scenario after the Santiago Bernabéu hosted the first official NFL game in Spain in November and Chicago has applied to play in the country in 2026 if the league fulfills its commitment to return.
