The Detroit Lions are bringing back a familiar face to compete for the kicking job.
The Lions re-signed kicker Michael Badgley to their practice squad Wednesday, a month after they cut him just before the start of training camp.
Badgley made 20 of 24 field goals and all 33 extra point attempts in 12 games with the Lions last season after joining the team in October to help stabilize a poor kicking game.
He missed time with a groin injury this spring, and the Lions released him in July to set up a training camp showdown between Riley Patterson and Parker Romo for the kicking job.
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The Lions kept Patterson when they set their initial 53-man roster Tuesday, despite an inconsistent camp. Patterson made 3 of 4 field goals in preseason games, but missed a 53-yarder short off the crossbar and an extra point wide right in last week’s exhibition finale against the Carolina Panthers.
Asked about the kicking competition early in camp, Lions special teams coordinator Dave Fipp said he “hated” that the team cut Badgley and did so because he and Patterson were similar kickers.
“I hated that we had to get rid of Badgley. That’s just part of the deal,” he said. “Anytime you’re looking to try to upgrade your roster and improve, you got to make changes and you got to go through some players to find good players sometimes, but I’m really appreciative of what he did for us when he came in here and saved us at an important time last year. So I have a lot of respect for him and think very highly of him.”
Badgley, who entered the NFL as an undrafted free agent in 2018, had stints with the Washington Commanders and Tennessee Titans after the Lions cut him this summer. He is an 82% kicker for his career (94 of 115), but the Lions hesitated to use him from distance last season, when he made 2 of 3 attempts of 50-plus yards.
Patterson was 13 of 14 kicking for the Lions in 2021, but lost a kicking battle last summer with Austin Seibert. He spent the season with the Jacksonville Jaguars, where he made 30 of 35 field goals, including a game-winning 36-yarder as time expired in Jacksonville’s playoff win over the Los Angeles Chargers, and was traded back to the Lions in May.
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Fipp said this summer Patterson made big strides since his first stint with the Lions “and his leg strength has really increased.”
“He looks really good in the training camp, so I’m really excited about him,” Fipp said. “And I think sometimes with young players, you see that where they bounce around a little bit for the first couple of years and then all of a sudden they start to grab a hold of something. So hopefully he does that for us.”
Contact Dave Birkett: dbirkett@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @davebirkett.