By Jordan Long
The Buffalo Bills’ kicking competition is over. The Bills decided to cut veteran Stephen Hauschka in favor of Tyler Bass.
Hauschka had been the Bills kicker the past 3 seasons. Last year, Hauschka made 30 of 32 extra points, making 93.7% of them. When it came to field goals, the Bills trusted him to make the kicks. From 20 to 49 yards, Hauschka went 21 of 23. Now those numbers are pretty good. He could kick the short and middle range kicks to add points for Buffalo. Hauschka struggled when field goals were 50+ yards. He made 1 of 5. Those misses gave the opponent’s offense a short field to drive down the field to score points.
The Bills were looking for a kicker with a stronger leg. The Bills decided to draft Bass in the 6th round of this years’ NFL Draft. In the end, the Bills decided to go with rookie Bass.
Bass played his college football for Georgia Southern from 2016 to 2019. He appeared in 49 games for them. In those contests, he nailed 114 of 116 PAT’s. Of course, in the college game, the PAT’s are kicked from the 10-yard line, closer than the NFL game. When it came to field goals, Bass made 54 of 68 in his college career or 90.6% of his kicks.
Bass didn’t attempt many 50+ field goals at Georgia Southern. He was 2 of 4 from long range. His longest field goal came from 50 yards.
The Bills are taking a chance. Hauschka has proven to be an accurate kicker at the NFL level. He showed that throughout his NFL career. Bass hasn’t even kicked a field goal in the NFL yet. The Bills are anticipating Bass has a longer leg and can nail the field goals. If he doesn’t it could spell trouble and the Bills will be defending a shorter field.
The worst case is Bass shows the inability to put the football through the uprights. If that occurs, the Bills might have to bring in other kickers who may end up stealing the job from Bass. On paper, this move doesn’t make sense, but hopefully it works out.
Leave a Reply