Who Should I Start? Michael Badgley or Greg Joseph

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.

Friday, May 16, 11:47 PM

The San Francisco 49ers signed free-agent veteran kicker Greg Joseph to an undisclosed one-year deal on Friday, according to his agent. Joseph will head to the NFC West after he spent 2024 kicking for three teams -- the New York Giants, Washington Commanders and New York Jets. In eight games with those three clubs, the 30-year-old veteran went 16-for-20 on his field-goal attempts (1-for-2 from 50-plus yards) and 11-for-11 on his extra-point tries. Joseph will be in a competition in training camp for the starting kicking job this summer with Jake Moody, who will be the favorite to win the competition. Joseph entered the NFL as an undrafted free agent out of Florida Atlantic before debuting with the Cleveland Browns in 2018. He has an 82.3% success rate on 141 career field-goal attempts over his six seasons in the league.