Over the first three seasons of Dan Campbell's tenure as the Detroit Lions' head coach, the carousel of kickers was almost comical. It's also fair to say a lack of faith in Michael Badgley's ability to make longer-range field goals outdoors played a big role in Campbell's decisions to go for it on fourth down, as a halftime lead over the San Francisco 49ers in the NFC Championship Game evaporated.
After a star turn for the Michigan Panthers in the UFL in the spring of 2024, the Lions gave Jake Bates a shot to being their answer at kicker. He was up and down during that training camp, but he ultimately won the job. His start to the season was shakier than anyone would like, but he ultimately asserted himself and a had great debut season.
Bates was not as sharp last season, with seven missed field goals. Five of those misses came from 50-plus yards out, though, and those are not chip-shot kicks regardless of being indoors or outdoors. Kickers league-wide have skewed our expectations about long field goals, to the detriment of anyone who misses them by comparison.
Missed field goals can be costly, yes, but Bates' misses cost the Lions a chance to win just one game last season, and that one (which would have led to a tie, and overtime) was blocked.
Bates is back with the Lions in 2026 on a exclusive rights free agent tender. He'll be looking to rebound back to his 2024 form, with an eye on potentially earning a long-term contract. There is no reason to question his job security right now.
Lions' writer puts Jake Bates on a warming seat for no reason at all
As the Lions go through OTAs, training camp, and the preseason, they will probably bring in someone who amounts to a "camp leg." That kicker will not be a serious threat to Bates, but the opportunity they get could catch the attention of other teams.
Vito Chirco of SI.com has offered four free agent kickers the Lions could target before the start of the season. That sound you just heard is a hard record scratch, as if Bates' status can legitimately be called into question at all.
One of Chirco's kicker options is a proverbial camp leg, undrafted rookie Jaffer Murphy. But the other three are name-brand veterans: Graham Gano, Daniel Carlson, and Matt Prater.
As Chirco noted, Gano has been a mix of injury-prone and not particularly good over the last three seasons with the New York Giants.
"In his final three years with the N.Y. Giants, though, he failed to play in a full season, and converted on just 29 of his 38 attempts (76.3%)."
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Carlson is somewhat under-appreciated after toiling for years as the Las Vegas Raiders' kicker. But his overall field goal proficiency has slowly eroded, and that it seems he was comfortably replaced by Matt Gay feels telling.
Prater remains a fine kicker into his 40s, and he carries some cache as a former Lion. There was certainly a time when he made sense as a potential option to come back to Detroit, but that juice has faded since Bates arrived.
If Bates is especially bad during OTAs and/or training camp, or he suffers some kind of notable injury, then the conversation would change in concert with those developments. But his job security is not a serious question for anyone right now, and the addition of serious competition along the lines of Gano, Carlson, or Prater would be a shocker.
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