Kicker Jake Bates made history last year in the United Football League when he nailed a 64-yard game-winning field goal down the uprights for the Michigan Panthers in week 1 against the St Louis BattleHawks. Not only did he do it once to win it, but he did it prior during an iced kick, which is a kick that doesn’t count because the other team called a timeout to try to get into the kicker’s head. He made more than 60+ yard field goals in the following weeks and stayed mostly consistent. With kickers being put in long-range situations every week in the NFL, this caught the attention of many teams, including the Detroit Lions.
Weeks later, the hometown hero was picked up by the Lions for preseason, and he struggled to get a groove in practice. It looked like Bates would lose out on his starting job, but then the course changed when the ex-starting kicker, Michael Badgeley, tore his hamstring and had to sit out for the season. This opened up the job wide for Bates, and he took it. In his first preseason game vs the New York Giants, he nailed a 53-yard field goal in the wind and rain to score the only points of the night for the Lions. The next week, Bates went an impressive 4/4, with a long of 55, vs the Kansas City Chiefs, even hitting a walk-off 43-yard game winner like he did vs the Battlehawks in the UFL. In his last week, he only made 1 out of 2 attempts, but it was poorly handled on the snap, and the Lions won anyway. It’s also safe to mention, coach Campbell showed faith in Bates, saying that Jake is very talented and there will be growing pains. In a way, power can’t be trained, but accuracy can.
After preseason, it was basically straightforward that Bates would take the starting kicker job, and it’s a decision the team doesn’t regret. Jake Bates scored a record-breaking 142 points, the most in Lions history, and went 26-29 on field goals(and also one being made and attempted in the playoffs), all misses being longer than 45 yards. He also kicked 67 PATs, and made 64 of them (also going 4/4 in the playoffs) due to the high-powered offense of the Lions. Bates also won multiple games for the Lions with game-winning or walk-off field goals, helping to get the Lions to their best record of all time. On top of that, Bates holds the record for most consecutive field goals being made by a Lions kicker, going 19/19 before his first miss, which was a 65-yard attempt in Chicago, which is a city that holds the nickname “Windy City.”
The Christian Kickers’ best attribute besides his big leg is his story. It’s been heard by any Lions fan at this point, and any NFL fan who pays attention, that Bates started college playing Soccer at Central Arkansas, then transferred to Texas State, and then to Arkansas, where he went viral for recovering his own onside kick. Bates never got to kick field goals in college; he was, however, a kickoff specialist due to his big leg power. Bates then had a short stint with the Houston Texans, which is only a short way away from his hometown, Tomball, Texas. He was cut by the team, and started selling bricks in Texas before he got the call to the UFL, and started kicking for the Michigan Panthers. One thing led to another, and he was on the Detroit Lions roster. The best part of this story is in week 7, the Lions were tied 23-23 with the Texans on Thursday night football in Houston. After nailing a 59-yarder, which is currently his NFL career longest, he was lined up for a 53-yard game winner. He nailed it just inside the left upright and sent the Lions back to Detroit with a comeback, nail-biting thriller win, showing the Texans what they could have had. And through all of this, Bates praises God and his teammates for his success.
At the moment, he only has a year left on his 2 year contract, but with the struggle the Lions have had at kicker, it is Likely this future superstar will be re-signed by the Lions. Bates has already grown on fans and become a fan favorite, and he has proven himself as a clutch situation kicker.
https://www.espn.com/nfl/player/gamelog/_/id/4689936/jake-bates
