Not a rhetorical question. Did we ever get an explanation as to why Holmes let Prater walk away? Does Holmes think kickers are not that important? Or did they offer him a deal and he left anyway?
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I think it might have been the $$$. Although Prater had a down year last year himself.
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Likely a combination of cash and age.
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Seems like eating the extra $2.5M or whatever a reliable kicker costs is worth it…
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My guess is he didn’t want to pay money for a kicker during a couple rebuilding years where he wasn’t overly concerned about actually winning games.
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Justin Tucker today…
Which was justifiable IMO. But by next year we better have a better solution to that position.
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https://twitter.com/DetroitOnLion/status/1574210526548488192?t=fJyVi6K5dUlmULFLielVPQ&s=1962
Another beat writer wondering the same thing.
This!
Prater wins us a couple of extra meaningless games during the first 2 years of the rebuild, all it does is cost us cap space and draft positions…two things we sorely needed this year and last.
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Prater’s best years are behind him. He was bottom of the league in each of the last two years (26th & 27th). Better to find a new kicker now than in two years when we really need a kicker.
Not that Seibert is the answer, but his FG% was better than Prater’s in each of the last two seasons.
We needed to find a new kicker going forward, not hang on to one past his prime.
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That may be the case, but he was 4/4 this weekend.
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If we retain Prater, he probably makes the kick in Pittsburgh, and the 4-13 Lions have the 4th pick in the draft and miss out on Aidan Hutchinson.
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It felt to me like a purge of team elders (Stafford, Prater, Muhlbach) as part of a fresh start for the new regime. All part of the plan to build with young players.
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Is that relevant?
Yep
2021 Prater
5th in points
7th in FG made
6th in FG attempted
19th in FG %age
6th in PAT’s made
6th in PAT’s attempted
I’m pretty sure Prater was another deserter. Like Galloday and Jones, I don’t think they could have paid him enough to stay, once Matt was gone.
Love you brother, but that is literally the most important stat for a kicker is field goal % made, nothing else really matters for a place kicker. And Prater wasn’t very good last year, doesn’t mean he can’t bounce back. He was a great Lion, but he is kinda old now, wish him well.
19th isn’t 27th. Just sayin.
In 2021, Matt Prater was 26th in FG%. In 2020, he was 27th.
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