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After years of stability behind strong-legged kicker Tyler Bass, the Buffalo Bills could have some unexpected competition in special teams this summer.
In a mailbag column published on June 1, Jay Skurski of the Buffalo News suggested that the Bills could have some worries over Bass and his late-season struggles. Bass struggled with accuracy as the season wore on, with Skurski writing that it could be a “cause for concern” for the team and predicting they could bring in another kicker to challenge him for the job.
“It’s entirely fair to be concerned about Bass going into 2024,” Skurski wrote. “Bottom line: He wasn’t good enough at the end of last season, especially in the playoffs. It’s surprising that the Bills didn’t bring in any competition for Bass this offseason.”
Bills Could Have Financial Incentive to Keep Tyler Bass
Bass is coming off a season where he made 82.8% of his field goals, just above his rookie-year career low. His struggles were amplified by one of his biggest misses, which came late in a divisional-round loss to the Kansas City Chiefs. Bass had a chance to tie the game but missed wide right on a kick from 44 yards.
Skurski pointed out that getting rid of Bass could be an expensive endeavor for the Bills, as the kicker’s contract counts $4.42 million against the 2024 salary cap and the team would save just $100,000 by releasing him.
“Financially, the best-case scenario for the Bills is Bass bounces back to the form he showed in 2021 and 2022, when he made more than 87% of his field-goal attempts in both seasons,” Skurski wrote.
The Bills have stood by Bass through the struggles last season. After the season-ending loss to the Chiefs, head coach Sean McDermott said he believed the veteran kicker would make whatever changes necessary to return to form next season.
“I am confident on Tyler. I’ll start there and end there. But in between those two…yes, there are kicks we need to make,” McDermott said, via reporter Jori Epstein on X. “I’m very confident he’s going to do what’s necessary this offseason to (get) right.”
But the Bills have also not been shy about parting ways with veteran players. In a series of cap-cutting moves this offseason, the team released veterans Tre’Davious White, Jordan Poyer, and Mitch Morse and restructured the contract of edge rusher Von Miller.
Bills Looking Outside the Box on Special Teams
Skurski suggested the Bills could already be looking to offload one of Bass’s key duties — kickoffs. With new league rules that encourage kick returns, some teams have floated the possibility of converting a position player to kicker to have an additional capable tackler on the coverage unit.
As Skurski wrote, the Bills have already experimented with a few other players kicking the ball.
“As for a position player who could kick off, a couple years back, I recall Dawson Knox, Micah Hyde, and Matt Barkley all attempting extra points during a training camp practice,” Skurski wrote. “Knox is the only one of them still with the team.”
