Who Should I Start? Michael Badgley or Elliott Fry

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.

Wednesday, August 23, 11:19 AM

The Denver Broncos waived kicker Elliot Fry (undisclosed) off Injured Reserve on Tuesday after reaching an injury settlement. It means Fry will now be able to sign with another team for the 2023 season. Brett Maher is still the leading candidate to be Denver's opening-day kicker in Week 1 against the division-rival Las Vegas Raiders. It's unclear exactly what the 28-year-old Fry is dealing with, and it remains to be seen if another team will give him a chance to compete for a kicking job this summer. He didn't kick at all in the NFL last year and spent the 2021 season with the Cincinnati Bengals and Kansas City Chiefs, going 4-for-5 on field-goal attempts in just two games.