Detroit is releasing Michael Badgley, firming up Riley Patterson as one of the more underrated kicking prospects. While he’s not a Tucker/Carlson kind of talent, he’s good enough, and I like the situation he’s in. Detroit is taking one other kicker to camp (youngster Parker Romo) but it’s looking pretty certain to be Patterson’s job.
The Lions are the betting favorites to win the NFC North, and they’ve got a solid, up-and-coming offense. Only four teams scored more points last year. And that production trickles down to the kicker position.
In the second half of last year, only two teams scored more kicking points than the Lions. (One of those, oddly enough, was Jacksonville, which had Patterson kicking.) Below seeing the total kicking points for each team in its final nine games of last season.
| KICKING POINTS (final 9 G) | |
|---|---|
| Kicker | Pts |
| San Francisco | 82 |
| Patterson, Jac | 78 |
| Detroit | 77 |
| Bass, Buf | 76 |
| Pittsburgh | 76 |
| Pineiro, Car | 75 |
| Maher, Dal | 74 |
| Tucker, Bal | 72 |
| Crosby, GB | 71 |
| Myers, Sea | 71 |
| Chargers | 71 |
| Philadelphia | 70 |
| Carlson, LV | 68 |
| Gay, LAR | 68 |
| Joseph, Min | 67 |
| Koo, Atl | 67 |
| Sanders, Mia | 67 |
| Folk, NE | 65 |
| Slye, Was | 65 |
| Kansas City | 65 |
| Indianapolis | 64 |
| McPherson, Cin | 63 |
| Arizona | 62 |
| Zuerlein, NYJ | 58 |
| Fairbairn, Hou | 56 |
| McManus, Den | 56 |
| Gano, NYG | 54 |
| Succop, TB | 51 |
| Lutz, NO | 47 |
| York, Cle | 47 |
| Tennessee | 45 |
| Chicago | 43 |
When it comes down to making the kicks, I think Patterson will be just fine. In his season and a half as an NFL kickere, he’s made 43 of 49 field goals and all but one of his 53 extra points. That’s above-average on field goals and among the best on PATs.
Patterson doesn’t have a strong leg. That was the driver behind the Jaguars replacing him with Brandon McManus. Patterson has made only 2 of 4 field goals from 50-plus, and he went only 3 of 8 from that range his final season at Memphis. But he’s been good enough, I think. Of the 28 kickers with at least 100 kicks in the last two years, only six have been more accurate on combined kicks.
| COMBINED KICKING ACCURACY (last 2 yrs) | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Player | FG-A | XP-A | Pct |
| Matt Gay | 60-64 | 79-81 | 95.9% |
| Jake Elliott | 50-56 | 95-97 | 94.8% |
| Tyler Bass | 55-63 | 99-101 | 93.9% |
| Justin Tucker | 72-80 | 63-64 | 93.8% |
| Daniel Carlson | 74-80 | 65-69 | 93.3% |
| Robbie Gould | 47-55 | 89-91 | 93.2% |
| Riley Patterson | 43-49 | 52-53 | 93.1% |
| Younghoe Koo | 59-66 | 63-65 | 93.1% |
| Michael Badgley | 42-50 | 73-74 | 92.7% |
| Graham Gano | 58-65 | 49-51 | 92.2% |
| Brett Maher | 45-50 | 60-65 | 91.3% |
| Jason Myers | 51-60 | 85-89 | 91.3% |
| Randy Bullock | 43-51 | 70-73 | 91.1% |
| Dustin Hopkins | 39-44 | 52-56 | 91.0% |
| Harrison Butker | 43-52 | 85-90 | 90.1% |
| Matt Prater | 52-62 | 64-67 | 89.9% |
| Nick Folk | 68-76 | 74-82 | 89.9% |
| Evan McPherson | 52-62 | 86-92 | 89.6% |
| Ryan Succop | 56-68 | 80-84 | 89.5% |
| Cairo Santos | 47-53 | 54-60 | 89.4% |
| Mason Crosby | 50-63 | 86-90 | 88.9% |
| Chase McLaughlin | 45-57 | 57-58 | 88.7% |
| Chris Boswell | 56-68 | 45-47 | 87.8% |
| Brandon McManus | 54-67 | 58-61 | 87.5% |
| Jason Sanders | 49-63 | 75-79 | 87.3% |
| Greg Zuerlein | 59-72 | 70-77 | 86.6% |
| Greg Joseph | 59-71 | 76-86 | 86.0% |
| Joey Slye | 48-55 | 42-50 | 85.7% |
The Lions open at Arrowhead. I can’t say I’d be excited about rolling out Patterson in Week 1. But I think he looks like a solid contender to finish among the 10 highest-scoring kickers.
—Ian Allan