Draft offers Detroit wealth of high-end kicking options
INDIANAPOLIS >> The Detroit Lions love Michael Badgley, but they’re not in love with him.
For the second consecutive offseason, the team resigned the reliable, veteran kicker. But during a radio interview with 97.1-FM last Monday, general manager Brad Holmes pledged to bring in competition for the job.
“Badgley, he’s done a nice job,” Holmes said. “He’s been clutch throughout his career. He’s done what we’ve needed to do, so he’s been good. Now, you know, with all positions, there’ll be competition. And Badgley understands that. He knows there’ll be competition. He did a nice job, he’s signed, but he’s still gonna have competition.”
The Lions took the same approach last offseason, signing XFL standout Parker Romo, before executing a trade with the Jaguars that brought Riley Patterson back to Detroit. So when Badgley picked up a minor injury during OTAs, the team didn’t hesitate to cut bait, allowing Romo and Patterson to duke it out through training camp for the job.
Ultimately, Badgley worked his way back to Detroit via the team’s practice squad. He ended up unseating Patterson late in the year after a brief rough patch with extra points. Badgley would finish the year making all four of his field goal attempts, followed up by a critical 54-yarder in a onepoint, Wild Card round victory over the Los Angeles Rams, earning himself another go in 2024.
But the Lions won’t have to look far for the kicking competition Holmes seeks.
The upcoming draft class has multiple options who meet the modern-day requirements for the position: A big leg and reliable accuracy.
A year ago, three kickers were drafted, with Michigan’s Jake Moody the first off the board, going to the San Francisco 49ers in the third round. In 2024, at least as many should be selected, and potentially more. The group is headlined by Stanford’s Joshua Karty, Alabama’s Will Reichard and Arkansas’ Cam Little. Missouri’s Harrison Mevis, with his unique 5-foot-11, 240-pound frame. is also in the mix to be drafted this April.
Each brings defining strengths, but they have a shared background as high school soccer players.
Reichard, the NCAA’s career scoring leader, is a little bit different than the others in the sense he was groomed as a placekicker from a young age by his late father. The others picked it up in high school, more as a curiosity.
For Karty, he was putting his soccer skills to use as a practice field punter for a friend preparing for football tryouts when that friend suggested he try his hand, or more accurately, his foot at booting some field goals.
“At the end, he was like, ‘Hey, you should kick a field goal,’” Karty explained at the NFL combine on Saturday. “Went out to a 30-yarder and made a 30-yarder the first try, made a 40-yarder the first try, made a 45 he first try. Missed a 50 just barely, but it was a really close. The whole time, he was just YouTubing how to kick a field goal. I was just doing what he said, I had no idea what was going on. I didn’t really watch football, at that point.”
Two weeks later, Karty was playing for the school’s varsity team.
Little made his football decision more consciously, trying out as a punter and kicker as a sophomore. But when a snap went over his head and he got lit up by Drake Stoops — who went on to star as a receiver at Oklahoma — the wiry Little questioned his decision. Fortunately, he stuck with it and it’s led him to the NFL’s doorstep.
He now considers his mental toughness his best trait. He points to how he rebounded after missing a game-winner last season, going on to make 11-of12 to close the season, including two kicks from 55 yards and beyond.
Mevis, who has a build that might remind Lions fans of former kicker Matt Prater, picked up the nickname Thiccer Kicker from Missouri fans. And while Mevis might lack the long, lean frames of his peers at the combine, he doesn’t want for power. With his thick legs and impressive torque, he made 12 kicks of 50 yards or longer during his college career, including a 61-yard, game-winner in 2023.