Michael

Badgley

According to Lions beat writer, Tim Twentyman, Badgley “suffered a severe injury getting ready for practice” on Thursday. The veteran kicker converted on all four of his field goal attempts for the Lions last season, and was expected to compete with UFL star Jake Bates for the kicking job this summer. Bates now appears to be the frontrunner to land the job, but NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport reports the team plans to bring in other kickers for added competition.

Bates visited with the Commanders last week but appears set to join the Lions. Currently kicking for the UFL’s Michigan Panthers, Bates has turned into a spring football phenom after making multiple field goals of 60-plus yards and going 6-of-10 on field goals of 50-plus yards on the season. Bates converted on 17 of his 22 attempts (77.3 percent) in the regular season and first caught the attention of football fans when he converted a 64-yard game-winning field goal in Week 1 of the UFL season. He’ll have a chance to compete for the Lions starting kicker job against incumbent Michael Badgley, who made all four of his field goal attempts in his four games with the team. Badgley is a career 82.4 percent kicker and has made just five field goals of 50-plus yards.

Badgley kicked in four games for the Lions season, converting all four of his field goal attempts in limited action. He’s converted on 82.4 percent of his field goal attempts for his career and was 3-for-3 on his postseason field goal attempts this year. We’re early into the offseason, but Badgley should have the inside edge to win the Lions’ kicker job for the 2024 season.

Badgley signed with the organization after their second preseason game and kicked for the Titans in their final tune-up before being released after a week. The Titans now reopen their kicker search just two weeks until their first game of the year.

The Commanders signed Michael Badgley to push Slye after a good but not great 2022, but they have ended the competition before they have even played their second preseason game. Although the Commanders’ offense could be better under new OC Eric Bieniemy, it is not going to be attack fantasy managers are going to want to target for kicker streaming.

The Lions surprised most when they released the veteran kicker four days ago. Badgley didn’t last long on the open market and will presumably compete with Joey Slye in camp for kicker duties in Washington.

It is curious timing on the eve of training camp, especially after Badgley was re-signed in March. It is less curious from the perspective that the Lions also have Riley Patterson on the 90-man roster and he was a better overall kicker for the Jags last season. Badgley was a perfectly fine kicker in 2022, making 83.3 percent of his field goals and going 2-of-3 from beyond 50 yards. We would fully expect Detroit to move forward with Patterson. Badgley will be one of the first calls on the workout circuit.

Badgley spent time with Chicago and Detroit last year, kicking in 12 games for the Lions. The 27-year-old made 83% of field goals and went 2-of-3 from 50-plus. After bouncing around the league the last two seasons, Badgley should open the year as the Lions’ kicker.

The veteran wasn’t able to play through a groin injury last week, and the Lions reshuffled their practice-squad kicker situation by bringing in Michael Badgley for Week 5. Badgley is Detroit’s kicker going forward and the Lions will likely play practice-squad elevation games with him for a few weeks. Seibert will look to catch on elsewhere after recovering from his groin injury.

The kicker is trying to come back from an injury that cost him a Week 4 play. Michael Badgley was picked up to Detroit’s practice squad and will likely go if Seibert is still unavailable on Sunday. The Lions kicker spot has less value than it did last week in what projects as a slower game with a lower over/under against the Patriots.