Allen Park — The Detroit Lions’ kicking carousel continues to spin during the bye week as the team signed Sam Ficken to the practice squad on Tuesday.
Undrafted out of Penn State in 2015, Ficken has spent time on seven NFL rosters, most notably appearing in 24 games for the New York Jets from 2019-20. He also had brief opportunities with the Los Angeles Rams in 2017 and 2018. For his career, he’s made 35-of-48 field goal attempts (72.9%) with a long of 54 yards.
Ficken was one of four kickers who worked out for the Lions last week, along with Lirim Hajrullahu, Brian Johnson and Andrew Mevis. The team ultimately ended up signing Michael Badgley to the practice squad, days after he had served as an injury replacement of the Chicago Bears. In that appearance, he made all four of his field goal attempts in a 20-12 loss.
Badgley was elevated off the practice squad for the Lions’ game against the New England Patriots last Sunday, but didn’t log a snap with the Lions not attempting a field goal and punter Jack Fox handling kickoffs. Badgley was Detroit’s third kicker in as many weeks after utilizing practice squader Dominik Eberle the previous week and starting the season with Austin Seibert.
Seibert was waived last Friday after missing one game and some additional practice time with a groin injury related to an adductor surgery last year.
Following the addition of Ficken, the Lions have now rostered 10 different kickers since letting Matt Prater depart in free agency after the 2020 season.
jdrogers@detroitnews.com
Twitter: @Justin_Rogers
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