Pride of Detroit
After missing the entire 2024 season, and losing his job to Jake Bates, could the Lions give Badgley a chance to get his job back in 2025?
Our 2025 Detroit Lions free agency preview has arrived at the special teams side of things. After missing the entire 2024 season due to a torn hamstring, kicker Michael Badgley sat on the IR and watched incoming rookie Jake Bates come in and take the job from him. Badgley was the early favorite to win the kicking job in 2024, but the injury derailed that chance.
With a year off, and the success of Bates, does Badgley have a chance to try and get his job back? Let’s look and see if it makes sense for Detroit to give Badgley another shot.
Here’s a look at our previously written free agent profiles: WR Tim Patrick, G Kevin Zeitler, OT Dan Skipper, DT Kyle Peko, LB Derrick Barnes, CB Carlton Davis
With majority of his 2023 season on the practice squad, Badgley made the most of his time on the main roster, helping the Lions defeat the Los Angeles Rams for their first playoff victory since 1992. He was the leading candidate for the starting job in 2024, but the Lions also brought in two other kickers, Bates and James Turner, a rookie out of the University of Michigan.
IR (Hamstring): Badgley would never play a down as he tore his hamstring in July, landing him on IR and ending his season.
Badgley was doing well in the spring, as the kicking competition went down from three players to two, leaving it a Bates vs. Badgley showdown for training camp. The injury, unfortunately, ended Badgley’s season, and Bates would go on to win the starting job for the Lions. Head coach Dan Campbell felt bad for Badgley when the injury happened, the first of many for the team in 2024.
“Feel awful for Badge, man,” Campbell said. “He worked his tail off to get ready for this season. He was having a good spring and he was ready for camp. Anyways, it’s tough.”
Contract status: Unrestricted free agent
The way things ended for Badgley in 2024 isn’t what anybody wanted to see. He was a mostly good kicker for the Lions in 2023, going 24-for-26 on extra points and 7-for-7 on field goals. Even though Detroit brought in Bates and Turner to compete for the job, they liked Badgley enough to give him a chance to be the starter after losing the job earlier in 2023 to Riley Patterson—but then winning back the job midseason.
We know general manager Brad Holmes has had some struggles at the kicker position since arriving, with a total of seven kickers playing for the franchise from 2021-2024. He gave Badgley and Patterson the most shots, each of them playing on the team for...
