After years of trying to find an answer at kicker, the Detroit Lions appear to have found their guy in Jake Bates. Entering Week 17 he is 23-for-26 on field goals (two misses from 50-plus yards out) this season, and 58-for-59 on extra points. The Lions stuck with him through some early struggles, and that patience has paid off big-time.
Bates’ story has become well-known. He had not attempted a field goal since high school before doing so for the Michigan Panthers in the UFL last spring. He parlayed a strong showing in that league into interest from NFL teams, and the Lions of course ultimately signed him when the UFL season was over and he could be signed.
Spring football leagues have come and gone over the decades, but the unification of the USFL and XFL into the UFL for the 2024 season appears to have worked very well and it feels sustainable. The league can be an easy breeding ground and de facto minor league for the NFL, cultivating potential coaches and giving players an opportunity to showcase themselves.
In Week 1 of the UFL season back in March, Bates made a 64-yard game-winning field for the Panthers against the St. Louis Battlehawks. That instantly put him on the radar of NFL teams in need of a kicker, of course including the one that (like the Panthers) calls Ford Field home.
Bates is a huge success story to come out of the UFL, and it’s fair to assume he won’t be the first if the league can stick around for awhile. The effort to stick around can only be helped by making the league appealing to players who are looking for a chance, or a second chance, in the NFL.
So Bates is, frankly, low-hanging fruit for the UFL to promote itself as the start of its 2025 season approaches. The video the league released this week promotes FOX and FS1 as carrying games at the end of it (ABC/ESPN are also UFL television partners), but the broader promotional point sticks.
Check out the clip.
“All you need is one shot”….”and the UFL can give it to you”, is what it may as well say. Bates is living proof of that, as he has been one of the best kickers in the NFL this year after getting an opportunity in the UFL. There is not a better selling point for the spring league right now.
