Pride of Detroit
Cast your vote for the 2024 Detroit Lions Special Teams Player of the Year.
The Detroit Lions’ special teams unit remained one of the best in football for the 2024 season. Detroit’s coverage units remained solid, their return game had a few special moments, and even their field goal kicking took a huge step this year.
That makes our next Pride of Detroit Award—Special Teams Player of the Year—a difficult one to vote for. Here are our nominees for the award. Make sure to cast your vote at the bottom of the page and share why in the comment section.
Previous awards:
Ryan Mathews: Jake Bates
For all the anxiety drummed up during training camp about the Lions situation at kicker, Bates showed up for the team in some of their biggest moments during the season. The Lions improbable win over the Houston Texans wouldn’t have been possible without Bates drilling a 58-yard field goal to tie it, and then knocking through a walk-off winner from 52 yards out. In his rookie season, Bates finished 10th in field goal percentage (89.7%), won NFC Special Teams Player of the Week twice (Week 7 and 10), and NFC Special Teams Player of the Month for November.
Al Karsten: Jack Fox
This was a surprisingly competitive award, given that Dave Fipp’s special teams unit finished the season ranked first in DVOA (per FTN). While Jake “Kick & Mortar” Bates had a remarkable breakout season, this honor goes to the Lions’ First-Team All-Pro punter, Jack Fox.
Fox set a new NFL single-season record with a 46.2-yard net punting average and led the league with a 51.0-yard gross average. On top of that, he continued to showcase his versatility, converting yet another fourth down through the air—bringing his career passing record to an impressive 4-for-5.
Ty Schalter: Jake Bates
There are plenty of worthy options. But given how valid questions about his reliability were, and given how emphatically he answered them, I can’t not hand it to Bates.
Erik Schlitt: Jack Fox
Fox stacked yet another incredible season, earning NFC Special Teams Player of the Week in Week 3, was honored with a second career trip to the Pro Bowl, and was named a First-Team All-Pro. He led the NFL in yards per punt (51.0) and net yards (45.8), while also showing yet again that he can be trusted to execute a trick play.
Jeremy Reisman: Jake Bates
It may seem a bit unfair to Jack Fox, who set the NFL record for net punting average in 2024, but that is a full team accomplishment and the Lions also had the fewest punts in the NFL this year. Bates’ impact was both more unexpected and more valuable to Detroit. Bates finally give the Lions the big leg they’ve needed, and his 89.7% field goal accuracy was wildly impressive given how many long kicks he had (13-of-16 from 40 yards or longer). And he was fantastic under pressure, delivering game-winning,...
