The Lions have landed one of the most coveted UFL prospects. Jake Bates hit field goals of 64 and 62 yards in his first two games last year, and he did it for the team (Michigan Panthers) playing on Detroit’s home field. He’ll compete with Michael Badgley for the team’s kicking job.
But it’s a stretch, I think, to say that Bates looks like a favorite to be Detroit’s kicker. Not that Badgley is anything special, but I’m not sure that Bates is quite good enough to kick at the NFL level. He was not, after all, good enough to be a full-time kicker at the college level; he was a kickoff special, with his last field goal attempt (before the UFL) coming at the high school level.
Bates has a stronger leg. He hit those two long field goals early last year, and he also hit a 60-yarder later on. He finished the season going 3-4 on kicks of 60-plus yards. He was a less-impressive 4-8 on kicks from 50-plus; that includes a 55-yarder, a miss from 58, and all six of the other attempts from 51-53 yards.
Badgley, on the other hand, is arguably the worst current kicker on long-range field goals. He’s gone from 5-13 from 50-plus in his career, plus 3-11 on those kicks at the college level. There are 30 other active kickers with at least 10-plus attempts from 50-plus, and they’ve all hit at least 50 percent from that range.
50-YARD FIELD GOALS (last 4 yrs) | |||
---|---|---|---|
Player | FG | FGA | Pct |
Brandon Aubrey | 10 | 10 | 1.000 |
Chris Boswell | 22 | 26 | .846 |
Daniel Carlson | 22 | 27 | .815 |
Chase McLaughlin | 21 | 26 | .808 |
Eddy Pineiro | 8 | 10 | .800 |
Graham Gano | 23 | 29 | .793 |
Ka'imi Fairbairn | 19 | 24 | .792 |
Jake Elliott | 17 | 22 | .773 |
Harrison Butker | 19 | 25 | .760 |
Evan McPherson | 21 | 28 | .750 |
Younghoe Koo | 22 | 30 | .733 |
Nick Folk | 16 | 22 | .727 |
Cairo Santos | 13 | 18 | .722 |
Matt Gay | 20 | 28 | .714 |
Jason Myers | 15 | 21 | .714 |
Matt Prater | 27 | 38 | .711 |
Dustin Hopkins | 12 | 17 | .706 |
Cameron Dicker | 7 | 10 | .700 |
Mason Crosby | 9 | 14 | .643 |
Justin Tucker | 19 | 30 | .633 |
Brett Maher | 12 | 19 | .632 |
Tyler Bass | 12 | 19 | .632 |
Jason Sanders | 17 | 28 | .607 |
Brandon McManus | 28 | 47 | .596 |
• Jake Bates | 7 | 12 | .583 |
Greg Joseph | 15 | 26 | .577 |
Joey Slye | 12 | 21 | .571 |
Wil Lutz | 8 | 14 | .571 |
Greg Zuerlein | 16 | 31 | .516 |
Michael Badgley | 4 | 10 | .400 |
Inside 50 yards, Bates made 14 of 16 field goals last year. That’s fine, but it’s not really noteworthy for NFL purposes. Among players who attempted field goals last year, 31 have attempted more than 30 field goals in the last four years. All but five had made at least 88 percent.
Bates comes in a little ahead of Badgley, at least. (Badgley is under 86 percent, ahead of only Chase McLaughlin and Randy Bullock.) So that is looking like a training camp battle, with Bates looking about as likely as Badgley to be their opening day kicker.
FIELD GOALS INSIDE 50 (last 4 yrs) | |||
---|---|---|---|
Player | XP | XPA | Pct |
Cameron Dicker | 45 | 45 | 1.000 |
Justin Tucker | 111 | 116 | .957 |
Nick Folk | 107 | 112 | .955 |
Younghoe Koo | 106 | 112 | .946 |
Cairo Santos | 99 | 105 | .943 |
Daniel Carlson | 111 | 118 | .941 |
Matt Gay | 87 | 93 | .935 |
Eddy Pineiro | 58 | 62 | .935 |
Greg Zuerlein | 112 | 120 | .933 |
Ka'imi Fairbairn | 79 | 85 | .929 |
Brett Maher | 50 | 54 | .926 |
Brandon McManus | 84 | 91 | .923 |
Harrison Butker | 82 | 89 | .921 |
Riley Patterson | 56 | 61 | .918 |
Greg Joseph | 68 | 75 | .907 |
Jake Elliott | 77 | 85 | .906 |
Graham Gano | 77 | 85 | .906 |
Jason Myers | 95 | 105 | .905 |
Jason Sanders | 92 | 102 | .902 |
Dustin Hopkins | 87 | 97 | .897 |
Matthew Wright | 34 | 38 | .895 |
Joey Slye | 84 | 94 | .894 |
Evan McPherson | 58 | 65 | .892 |
Tyler Bass | 95 | 107 | .888 |
Chris Boswell | 82 | 93 | .882 |
• Jake Bates | 14 | 16 | .875 |
Matt Prater | 74 | 85 | .871 |
Mason Crosby | 62 | 72 | .861 |
Wil Lutz | 68 | 79 | .861 |
Michael Badgley | 66 | 77 | .857 |
Randy Bullock | 63 | 74 | .851 |
Chase McLaughlin | 57 | 67 | .851 |
I would not be interested in selecting either of these guys, even in a league requiring teams to select two kickers. With Detroit being good at putting the ball in the end zone, it attempted a league-low 21 field goals last year. It got only 105 points out of the position (more than only four teams).
As seen in the picture, Bates was with the Texans in the preseason last year. He made 2 of his 3 extra points in a game at New England, with no field goal attempts.
—Ian Allan