Who Should I Start? Nick Folk or Michael Badgley

Friday, January 3, 2:21 PM

Tennessee Titans kicker Nick Folk (abdomen) has been ruled out for the Week 18 matchup against the Houston Texans. Folk will now miss his third game in a row due to an abdominal issue. He'll finish the season nearly perfect on his kicks. Folk made 25-of-25 extra point attempts and 21-of-22 field goal attempts during his 14 games with the Titans this season. The 40-year-old will be a free agent this offseason, but he shouldn't have any issues finding another opportunity, assuming he wants to continue his career. Matthew Wright will kick for the Titans for the regular season finale. He made all three of his kicks during last week's game.

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.