The Detroit Lions made a surprising cut of kicker Michael Badgley just before training camp started, leaving them with the re-acquired Riley Patterson and XFL standout Parker Romo. Patterson appeared to be the clear favorite to win the job, until the preseason finale where he missed a long-ish field goal as well as an extra point.
The Lions are certainly considering kicker options, and if they weren't they would be doing something wrong. Tuesday morning, ahead of the the deadline to be down to 53 players, The Athletic's Diana Russini reported the Lions are among the teams making calls looking to trade for a kicker.
The Cleveland Browns got a solid fish in the kicker trade market on Monday, acquiring Dustin Hopkins from the Los Angeles Chargers. But there are other good options out there.
The kicker market is busy!
— Dianna Russini (@DMRussini) August 29, 2023
Teams currently making calls around the league looking for opportunities to trade for kickers:
Rams, Lions, Titans, 49ers, and Broncos
Badgley halted the Lions post-Matt Prater kicker carousel for a time last season. Since Brad Holmes and Dan Campbell came in in 2021, here's the current list of kickers they have had somewhere on the roster.
Randy Bullock
Zane Gonzalez
Matthew Wright
Austin Seibert
Ryan Santoso
Riley Patterson
Aldrick Rosas
Dominik Eberle
Michael Badgley
Sam Ficken
Parker Romo
Looks like one more name will be added to the list before Week 1. Signing a free agent is possible, but it looks like a trade is being pursued first. In any case, if Patterson is still the Lions' kicker against the Kansas Chiefs on Sept. 7 it will not be because a genuine, thorough attempt to replace him wasn't made.
Here are four kickers the Lions could make a deal for, possibly (likely?) very soon.