Not long ago, Jake Bates thought his football career was over. Now he’s being recognized as the best at what he does.
Bates has been named the NFC special teams player of the week for kicking the game-winning field goal in the Lions’ 31-29 win over the Vikings.
That’s quite a comeback for Bates, who had a limited college football résumé and took a job selling bricks when it looked like he wouldn’t get a chance to kick in the NFL. But early this year he started kicking for the Michigan Panthers in the upstart UFL, and was so good kicking at Ford Field that the Lions signed him.
On Sunday Bates hit the game-winning field goal in addition to making all four of his extra points. Lions coach Dan Campbell has said he has so much confidence in Bates that under the right circumstances, he’d consider giving him a chance at a 73-yard field goal.
Suffice to say, if Bates ever does that, he’ll earn himself another special teams player of the week award.
