Will the Bills get the normal Tyler Bass in 2026?
· Yahoo Sports
The Buffalo Bills used multiple kickers last season thanks to a variety of injuries at the position. For the majority of the season, it was veteran Matt Prater handling the duties, and the 41-year old was fantastic. He hit on 90% of his tries during the regular season, nailing 18-of-20 field goals over the course of 15 games. He did miss time thanks to a quad injury, but he returned in time for the postseason. Prater made all five of his field goal tries and all six of his extra points.
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Michael Badgley also kicked in two games for the Bills, and while he made his only field goal try, it was his PAT misses that led to his dismissal. Even running back Ray Davis had a go, as he made an extra ppoint during the preseason and attempted an onside kick during the regular season.
It’s unlikely that any of the aforementioned players will attempt a kick for Buffalo this season, as the man whom the team expected to handle the kicking last year is now back and available. In today’s installment of our “91 players in 91 days” series, we discuss the only kicker on Buffalo’s current roster.
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Name: Tyler Bass
Number: 16
Position: K
Height/Weight: 5’10” 183 lbs.
Age: 29 (30 on 2/114/2027)
Experience/Draft: 7; selected by Buffalo in the sixth round (No. 188 overall) of the 2020 NFL Draft
College: Georgia Southern
Acquired: Sixth-round draft choice
Financial situation (per Spotrac): Bass signed a renegotiated two-year deal worth $6.75 million this offseason. His cap hit is $3.05 million if he makes the 53-man roster, and Buffalo will carry a dead cap charge of $2.54 million if he’s released.
2025 Recap: Bass underwent core muscle surgery in the offseason, though the extent of his injuries didn’t become known until December. He missed the entire season as he recovered from that surgery. Buffalo placed Bass on injured reserve on September 5. They had signed Prater to replace him the day prior.
Positional outlook: Bass is the only kicker on Buffalo’s current roster. Maddux Trujillo had been in camp, but the Bills released him on May 12.
2026 Offseason: Bass has mostly kicked away from reporters and fans during camp, which led to some speculation regarding his health. At his first public kicking practice, though, he was perfect on seven tries. He also looked good kicking inside Highmark Stadium for the first time a few days later.
2026 Season outlook: Bass is Buffalo’s kicker, and while the renegotiated contract gives the team some wiggle room, it’s still unlikely that they release him barring catastrophic failure on his part. Prior to the injury, Bass was solid but inconsistent. Kicking in the wind tunnel that was the old Highmark Stadium (or Rich Stadium, or Ralph Wilson Stadium, or New Era Field—take your pick) might have contributed to that inconsistency. The wind inside the new stadium is said to be much less of a factor at field level, though we’ll see how that holds up when it’s 10 degrees and the wind is blowing snow off of Lake Erie in December.
Prater was nearly automatic last season, so Bass does have some pressure to live up to the veteran’s success. Hopefully, he’s reayd to roll almost immediately. I anticipate that the Bills will try some field goals in preseason games where they might go for conversions on fourth down if it were the regular season. That way, they can ease their kicker back into game-like action. They’re going to need him to make a big kick at some point, and they need to make sure that he’s in a place to do that both physically and mentally.
When the team fires up the Bass-o-Matic, they need to know it’ll function the right way. Thus far, Bass has looked like his old self. Let’s hope that continues when the games matter.