Detroit Lions waive kicker Austin Seibert, likely to promote Michael Badgley

Austin Seibert was no longer on the injury report with a groin injury, but on Friday the Detroit Lions waived their kicker from the first three games this season.

Austin Seibert was one of four kickers the Detroit Lions had last year, before an abductor injury landed him on season-ending IR. He was back, and won a preseason battle with Riley Patterson for the kicking job this summer. Then a groin injury, related to scar tissue from that abductor surgery according to Justin Rogers of The Detroit News, cost him Week 4 and Dominik Eberle kicked in his place.

Seibert was limited in practice on Wednesday and Thursday with the right groin issue. But he was not on Friday’s final injury report for Week 5…because the announcement he was waived came right after said injury report came out.

Detroit Lions waive Austin Seibert, next man up is Michael Badgley

After waiving Eberle on the heels of his rough performance (two missed extra points, a kickoff out of bounds) against the Seahawks, the Lions signed Michael Badgley to their practice squad. He kicked for the Chicago Bears last Sunday in place of Cairo Santos, who was away to deal with a personal issue, and made all four of his field goal attempts. When Santos returned to the team Monday, the Bears let go of their extra kicker.

With no immediate corresponding move announced with the move to waive Seibert, the expectation is Badgley will be elevated from the practice squad to kick for the Lions. As Rogers termed it, Badgley is expected to fill the void “at least for the short term.”

Badgley has 48 games of experience on his resume, mostly with the Los Angeles Chargers from 2018-2020 (34 games). After going 24-for-33 on field goals (72.7 percent, 10-for-19 from 40-plus yards out) in 2020, the Chargers let him go. He kicked in one game for the Tennessee Titans and 12 games for the Indianapolis Colts in 2021.

For his career, Badgley has made 81.3 percent of his field goals (74-for-91) with a long of 59 yards. But his proficiency from 40-plus yards out has left a lot to be desired.

The Lions have had quite the kicker carousel since Matt Prater left for the Arizona Cardinals in free agency in 2021. Badgley might hold down the fort for the rest of the season, but the odds of that don’t seem all that great.