The Detroit Lions invested in UFL standout Jake Bates to be the team's kicker for what they are hoping to be the 2024 season and beyond.
To this point, Bates has provided strong returns with a perfect 5-for-5 mark on field goal attempts. He did miss one extra point against Arizona and a couple of near-misses, but has shown continued improvement in the eyes of special teams coordinator Dave Fipp.
"For Bates, I think honestly the biggest thing for him is he really had – it’s well documented he wasn’t the kicker in college and all that. I mean, he kicked, but he wasn’t the guy all the time. He just didn’t have a lot of reps," said Fipp. "So, you have a young player who doesn’t have a ton of reps, has a tremendous skillset and talent and upside."
The key for the Lions has been allowing him to continue to bank plenty of high-intensity reps. When Michael Badgley went down with a season-ending injury, the team elected to not add another kicker to the roster.
As a result, Bates was the beneficiary of all training camp reps from that point forward. Veteran Greg Joseph was briefly added to the practice squad, but he was eventually signed to the New York Giants' active roster.
"So really, it’s building a volume of repetition and it certainly helps when he’s got some really good players around him. Hogan (Hatten)’s doing a great job snapping those snaps, that really helps him out. (Jack) Fox is doing a great job getting the ball down," said Fipp. "But for the three of those guys, the more reps they can get, the better he’s going to be."
With a plethora of reps available to him and getting some game experience, the Lions are hoping they can continue to develop the talented kicker. Bates clearly has one of the biggest legs in the league, and has proceeded nicely in his development.
"He’s just going to keep on getting better and better throughout the course of the year, and that’s not to say – he’s going to have a miss here or there, that’s coming for sure, but ultimately, I’ve seen improvement already from his charting preseason stuff and then since the season began and the direction that charting’s going has been steady improvement," Fipp said. "The biggest challenge with that is you just can’t kick a guy a million reps because it wears the leg out or it will injure him. So, you have to balance him right now a lot of volume and getting a lot of reps and experience, but also not wearing the guy out and making sure he’s fresh and ready to go.”
Brandon Aubrey helps give Lions confidence in Bates
The Lions' opponent in Week 6, the Dallas Cowboys, employs a kicker who took a similar career trajectory to Bates. Brandon Aubrey was originally a soccer player who played at Notre Dame and was drafted in the 2017 MLS Draft by Toronto FC.
After playing for the Toronto FC reserve team and the Bethlehem Steel, he switched to American football and kicked for the Birmingham Stallions of the then-USFL in 2022. He was scooped up by the Cowboys ahead of the 2023 season and has become one of the best kickers in the league.
To this point in his career, Aubrey is 50-of-54 on field goal attempts, including 16-of-17 from attempts 50 yards and longer. Because he has had this sort of success, the Lions are hoping to strike a similar tune with their own former UFL kicker.
"Even watching Aubrey helps me have confidence with Bates, a guy who hasn’t had as many kicks as somebody else for sure. The bottom line is these guys are talented guys. They’re definitely ball strikers before, they’re playing soccer, they’re doing a lot of other sports. They’re not just a high school kicker who’s done it his whole life," Fipp said. "These guys are good athletes, they’re good players, they’re super talented, and I think those guys have a – they can get better, and they can improve. And it doesn’t hurt – when you come into this League, the quality of players around you really helps out."
