Justin Rogers at Detroit News lays out a case for it.
"Kicker Matt Prater has made it known he would like to be back with the Detroit Lions next season, but there’s no guarantee that will happen as he prepares for free-agency.
"The first issue is money. Even though general manager Brad Holmes has rejected the notion the Lions are rebuilding, trading quarterback Matthew Stafford suggests otherwise.
"Prater’s last deal paid him $3.8 million per season, an average that currently ranks 11th for the position. He’ll likely be looking to re-up for somewhere in that range, and that’s a questionable use of resources for a team not expected to compete this season and probably next.
"Second, the Lions have to entertain the possibility Prater’s uncharacteristic struggles in 2020 weren’t a fluke. He made just 75% of his field-goal attempts last season, well off his career pace and among the worst rates in the league.
The Lions already have an insurance policy, Matthew Wright, who went undrafted out of Central Florida in 2019 and is a perfect 11-11 on his field-goal and extra-point attempts during his brief career, with a long of 46 yards."
The article also quotes new Lions special teams coach Dave Fipp, who doesn’t really say anything useful. He expresses respect for Prater’s great career, but acknowledges he’s a UFA and says, “We’ll see what happens.”
Watching the kicking issues that a lot of teams seem to have, I’d keep Prater one more year to make sure last year is the new norm and not just an aberration due to a new holder.
I’m not too concerned about his age… even in 2 years.
But I would suspect the Lions look to get a young kicker on the cheap now, and hope he earns proves himself over a few years so they can count on him once the Lions have a chance to compete in meaningful January games.
With Lions already over the cap and a ton of holes to fill… it would be hard to justify $3.8 million… or anything close to that number… for a kicker.
Who was just discussing their preferences in Special Teams where a comment was made along the lines of:
“We want a guy that going to be automatic on the normal kicks. That’s more important than whether they can make it from 55 yards. It’s whether they can make it from 46 every time that is the important thing.” (or something like that)
I can’t remember who (coach or ex-coach or scout) was making that case.
If this new regime is serious about winning this year, they will re-sign Prater. If this year is a throw away year to evaluate and rebuild the roster then they’ll go with a cheap option.
Every post seems like you want all cheap players. According to you they might as well just forfeit next year. Lol rather you realize it or not you will have to pay someone. If you have a team full of your guys we will be even worse then Patricia.
Not sure if you realized it… but the Lions are already over the cap… and need to cut more than 5 players just to able to afford tagging KG and sign the 6 draft picks.
Sure… they can restructure Goff and create $10-15 million in space.
Lions need to add 4WRs, RB, kicker, long snapper, DE, DT, 2LBs, 2 CBs, and 2 safeties… with possible need of TE if James is cut and maybe OT also.
KG + 6 draft picks… leaves 9 or more roster spots to fill… and not much cap space.
Call me crazy, but I am not in favor of restructuring any other player that is a candidate (Flowers or others)… and push unnescessary spending in future years… just to free up cap space to sign a 37yo kicker.
Well the cap hasn’t actually been set yet. Only projected and half the NFL is over the projected cap.
Your crazy … lol
Seriously though … there’s going to be a lot of this going on this year. That’s the primary way teams will free up cap dollars. Everybody’s doing it!
What’s nice is the Lions have some easy targets to do it with.
Personally I think it’s smart to do so…Players will come cheaper this year than next year. I’d rather be a player in free agency this year than next. You’ll get more bargains if you do.
He’s 36 until August and 36 is young in Kicker years … lol
Kicker years are like the opposite of dog years. One Kicker year = 0.7 years. He’s only 25 in kicker years …lol… he’s still a young pup.
But he struggled over 40 yards. However the Lions only tried 7 attempts past 40 yards which was ranked 24th in the league in attempts. He made 4 of those attempts.
So he missed 3 kicks on the season. All over 40 yards and he was breaking in a new holder.
I’d like to believe that had we tried more attempts those 3 misses wouldn’t have seemed so bad.
In comparison in 2019 he missed one under 40. Two over 40 and one over 50.
