The Detroit Lions’ kicking carousel has picked up another passenger.
The Lions signed veteran kicker Sam Ficken to their practice squad Tuesday, a week after they bypassed signing him following a workout.
Ficken is the sixth kicker the Lions have employed since training camp as they try and solve kicking game problems that date back to their decision not to re-sign Matt Prater as a free agent in 2021.
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Austin Seibert won a camp battle with Riley Patterson for the kicking job, but the Lions waived Seibert after he recovered from a groin injury last week.
Seibert missed two field goals in the Lions’ Week 3 loss to the Minnesota Vikings. He underwent surgery to repair torn adductors last fall.
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Dominik Eberle handled kicking duties in a Week 4 loss to the Seattle Seahawks, but was waived after missing two extra points and sending a kickoff out of bounds in that game.
The Lions signed Michael Badgley to their practice squad last week, but Dan Campbell passed on a 50-yard field goal attempt to try and convert a fourth-and-9 in the first half of last week’s loss to the New England Patriots because he said he did not trust Badgley kicking from that distance.
Badgley remains on the Lions practice squad. The Lions also placed Aldrick Rosas on practice squad injured reserve in September.
Ficken, one of four kickers to try out for the Lions last week, has played for eight NFL teams since going undrafted in 2015.
He last kicked in a game with the New York Jets in 2020, but spent training camp last season with the Tennessee Titans.
For his career, Ficken has made 73% of his field goals (35 of 48) with a long of 54 yards. He missed three extra points in both the 2019-20 seasons.