Misery continues to consume Detroit Lions fans. Without a doubt, this season has been one of the most disappointing seasons in a long time, with Super Bowl aspirations coming to a crushing blow when the team was eliminated from playoff contention on Christmas Day. Injuries, combined with the failure to fill the voids left by their coordinators, decimated the Lions and ultimately led to an offseason full of questions for the future.
Not only has it been a tough season for the Lions, but it’s also been a tough year for ex-Lions kicker Michael Badgley. The eight-year veteran was released less than 24 hours after missing a costly extra point in the Buffalo Bills' 13-12 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles.
Badgley had missed an extra point in the Bills' narrow victory against the Cleveland Browns last week, and his failure to snap out of his kicking woes the following week cost him his job.
Badgley Still Seeking a Long-Term Home
Since starting his career back in 2018, Badgley has played for six different teams and has been unable to find a long-term home. While his struggles have been the primary reason for this, Badgley has also been extremely unlucky. One instance of this is his tenure with the Lions.
Badgley was signed to the Lions' practice squad mid-way through the 2022 season and made the most of his opportunity, connecting on 18 of his 21 field goal attempts and converting all 33 of his extra point attempts.
Although he didn’t re-sign with the Lions in the offseason, he ended up with the team following training camp cuts. Yet again, Badgley got another opportunity to shine late in the season after kicker Riley Patterson struggled, converting all four field goal attempts and making 13 of 15 extra points.
It looked like Badgley won himself the starting job heading into 2024, but a torn hamstring in the offseason ended his season and ultimately his tenure with the Lions, as Jake Bates would emerge as the team’s future kicker.
Even though it’s sad to see Badgley not get a fair chance to earn his spot back, Bates had a stellar season, and the Lions made the right choice sticking with Bates. You don’t know how a kicker is going to perform following a torn hamstring, and with their high expectations, the Lions couldn’t afford to take a risk.
Bates has displayed that he’s the Lions’ future at the position despite having a down year this season. However, it’s always important to have depth at the position, and the Lions could make it up to Badgley by signing him to the practice squad.
Although he had numerous crucial extra points misses this season, all kickers go through slumps and must be given a chance to redeem themselves.
Although he’ll have some misses, he’s proven that he can be a solid fill-in for when a team’s starting kicker is hurt or struggling. He was fine for the Indianapolis Colts after their kicker went down, as Badgley connected on 10 of 11 field goals and 18 of 21 extra points.
Regardless, Badgley should quickly find himself a new home in the offseason.