With the first overall pick in the 1980 NFL Draft, the Lions selected running back Billy Sims, setting a foundation for the position for the next 20 years, with another top-three pick, Barry Sanders, following at the end of the decade.
The Lions had another foundational draft pick that season, taking kicker Eddie Murray in the seventh round. That selection set the framework for the position for the next four decades.
For a position that is so integral to a team’s success, the Lions have had a remarkable history of success, with a lineage that traces back through primarily four kickers: Murray (1980-91), Jason Hanson (1992-2012), David Akers (2013) and Matt Prater (2014-present).
Hanson leads the group, having been the standard-bearer not only for the Lions, but for the position in the league for most of his stellar 21-year career. He’s regarded as one of the best kickers of all time and has been through the several stages of the Lions’ evolution.
By comparison, during the past four decades, the Lions have had 12 head coaches and 32 different starting quarterbacks — and keeping the count of kickers on one hand.
In fairness, there were others who stepped in when the regulars were injured. That included Bob Thomas for two games in 1982, Mike Prindle for three games in 1987 and Rich Karlis for six games in 1990. Remy Hamilton and Ndamukong Suh each missed an extra-point attempt and Dave Rayner played eight games during Hanson’s tenure.
Primarily four kickers in 40 years. It’s uncommon in the NFL for teams to kickers to have that staying power. That’s one thing that the Lions have done right, in light of their playoff futility.
“It is fortunate for the franchise because for many organizations, it doesn’t happen,” Hanson said. “For some reason to be able to find the guy that gets it done and that you’re comfortable with it, that you want to be the guy (is hard). All teams would love to know who their kicker is and not worry again about it.
“The Lions have been fortunate, I think, to find guys that they want to be their kicker that are able to get the job done.”
A bump, but not for long
There’s something to be said for the staying power in maintaining a small stable of kickers for so long. The biggest bump in the road seemed to be in 2013, after Hanson’s retirement and moving to the next phase.
After Akers’ uncharacteristic single-year stay in 2013, there wasn’t an heir apparent. They drafted Nate Freese in the seventh round, who went 3-of-7 on kicks in his first three games, which led to getting Alex Henery, who lasted just two games.
That opened the door for Prater — who had previously kicked in the preseason for the Lions in 2006, but wasn’t beating out Hanson for the job — to return. Prater served a four-game suspension for violating the NFL’s substance-abuse policy to start the ’14 season and the Broncos released him.
The Lions gave Prater another chance — and they got lucky, with their kicker for at least the foreseeable future.
Even for Prater, 36, there’s an appreciation for the legacy of Lions kickers. Having played with another legend, Jason Elam, with the Broncos. The kicker he admires, though, wore Honolulu blue and silver.
“I would have to go with Jason Hanson. For one, all of his achievements and being in the same place 22 years,” Prater said. “I was so impressed with him as a person but him on the field was really impressive and fun to watch and I definitely learned a lot picking his brain and getting to see him in person do it, it was awesome.”
Transition period
Like other positions, the transitions from one kicker to another haven’t always been smooth. Murray had a good career, with 250 games and he hit 76 percent of his kicks (352-of-466), including first-team All-Pro in his rookie season and led the league in field goals made and attempted.
“If you’re a fairly established kicker (now), they’ll bring someone to camp, but they know they won’t make the team. For me, that was never the situation. There’s pressure, from yourself, but also pressure from coaching staff and management,” Murray said. “Every time I negotiated new contract, to (then-general manager) Russ Thomas, I was the worst kicker in the league and to my agent, I was one of the top guys. There was that back and forth.”
The writing was on the wall in 1992, when the Lions used a second-round draft pick (56th overall) on Hanson. It was a bitter end of the road for Murray, but it was more the sign of the times, as the kicking game changed and more than long distances, accuracy became a bigger premium.
Hanson said he didn’t quite know what he was getting into as the hot-shot draft pick.
“I was excited. I think maybe I was aware of some of the additional scrutiny of ‘Wow, we took a kicker really high.’ Just replacing Eddie, taking a kicker high and ‘What are we doing?’ kind of a thing,” Hanson said. “I think I knew that but thankfully, I don’t think I dwelled on it; it just was enough pressure to go out there and make your kicks.”
It was a tougher transition for Murray, who led the league in field-goal percentage in 1988 and ’89 and went on to play for six more teams before ending his career in 2000.
“When they drafted Jason, I remember player personnel guys saying there’s no one worth drafting (that high) as a kicker. They gave up two picks to Dallas and drafted Jason in the second round and that’s the game they play,” Murray said. “I wasn’t afforded an opportunity to compete for my job. Two days after drafting Jason, they let me go.”
The Prater push
Teams bring young kickers to training camp every year to help take some of the wear-and-tear off of their veterans and to push them. That was the situation with Prater, who didn’t give in to the temptation to try to make the comparisons to Elam, one of the game’s kicking greats.
“I think the biggest thing for me was just to be myself and not try to compare myself to all of his accomplishments and all those kinds of things and just try to do the best I can do,” Prater said. “Whenever it’s all said and done, maybe I’ll go back and compare numbers in that but right now I’m just trying to do the best I can every year.”
Since clutched kicks were tracked since 1985, Prater has made his mark in the NFL, with the highest percentage of clutch kicks — field goals in the final two minutes of regulation or overtime for a tie or the lead — converting 20 of 21 (95 percent), with an average of 41 yards.
Prater’s move to the Lions was made easier by his familiarity with long-snapper Don Muhlbach, whose 17-year career rivals the kickers’ longevity.
“It was definitely a big change, but I knew Muhlbach (previously) I got to work and learn a lot from Hanson. So, I knew Muhlbach and that was a big reason why I came here, because I was familiar with him and I had kicked with him before,” Prater said.
Prater knows there’s another transition coming, but likely his predecessors, he’s going to leave his own legacy in Detroit.
“At this point, I’m obviously not at the beginning of my career but still feel pretty good,” Prater said.
rbeard@detroitnews.com
Twitter: @detnewsrodbeard