Michigan Panthers kicker Jake Bates has been the talk of the town for Detroit Lions fans ever since he hit a walk off 64-yard field goal early on in the UFL season. He’s been the number one guy on their special teams wish list ever since.
It makes total sense that he should be linked to the the Lions. The team has been looking for a solid kicker throughout this entire rebuild and here’s one that’s already playing in the their building. It seems so easy.
Because of that, there’s a thought that the Lions are just going to stroll over and grab him when the UFL season is over and that’s that. That very well could happen, but Lots of teams are going to be all over him and he’s going to get some generous offers. The Lions could get outbid or there’s a chance the bloom is off the rose with Bates too.
Bates has really started to cool off since the hot start and the misses have started to rack up a bit. Bates just ended the regular season with a missed 53-yard field goal that sailed wide right. That miss cost the Panthers a loss in the final game of the regular season.
Bates is now up to five misses on the season and he’s ending the year going 17-22. The misses haven’t all been from long range either. Bates missed a 39-yard kick recently.
Still, teams are going to be interested like we said and the Lions might still have some of that interest too. Even if Bates doesn’t look like a guy that’s nailing them all the time anymore. If the Lions aren’t in on Bates anymore, Don’t worry, there is another.
Bates has been kind of overshading another UFL kicker that’s also having a very good season and has been a lot more accurate than Bates. That’s St. Louis BattleHawks kicker Andre Szmyt.
Like Bates, Szmyt also got a shot with an NFL team during camp last summer. He worked with the Bears. Also like Bates, Szmyt is likely to be on the forefront of a change in the ways that NFL teams scout kickers. It seems insane that both these guys didn’t make an NFL team in 2023.
Bates has a big leg and can hit from distance, but Szmyt can too. He nailed a 61-yard kick in early May.