Who Should I Start? Brett Maher or Michael Badgley

Monday, January 1, 7:38 PM

The Los Angeles Rams are signing veteran kicker Brett Maher on Monday after waiving rookie Lucas Havrisik earlier in the day. Maher began the year as the Rams' kicker and played in the first seven weeks before getting cut on Oct. 24, going 17-for-23 (73.9 percent) on his field-goal opportunities and 12-for-13 with his extra points. Havrisik was cut by the Rams on Monday after missing two of his four extra points in a one-point win over the New York Giants on Sunday. LA just has been unable to settle on a kicker all season, but Maher will hope to come back in and be more successful than he was earlier in the year as the team gets ready for another playoff appearance. In the Week 18 regular season finale against the San Francisco 49ers with key starters potentially being rested, Maher should be avoided for fantasy lineups.

Tuesday, March 4, 3:15 PM

The Detroit Lions recently cleared veteran kicker Michael Badgley (groin) from the torn groin that kept him out for all of last season, a source tells NFL Network's Tom Pelissero. While Badgley has made a full recovery, he's now set to become a free agent next week. With the 29-year-old out of commission all year, Jake Bates served as Detroit's regular kicker and was very reliable, missing only three of his 29 field-goal attempts in 17 regular-season games while missing three of his 67 extra-point attempts in his first year in the league. Because of how good Bates looked in 2024, it's likely that the Lions will let Badgley walk in free agency as he heads into his eighth year in the NFL. Badgley has a career 82.4 percent success rate on 119 field-goal attempts in 64 games played. In four games with Detroit in 2023, he made all four of his FGs and went 13-for-15 on extra points.