Prior to the Detroit Lions' Week 15 game vs Denver Broncos, the team decided to make a change in kicker. Riley Patterson, who was the team's forward all year, was benched in favor of Michael Badgley from the practice squad. Last week, the Lions made that change permanent, waiving Patterson from the entire roster to make room for rookie quarterback Hendon Hooker.
On Monday, Patterson was signed to the practice squad for Cleveland Browns. Cleveland needed a starter during a short week — they play the Jets on Thursday — after starter Dustin Hopkins suffered a hamstring injury in Sunday's win over the Jets. Texas. With no other player on the 53-man roster or practice squad, Patterson was an easy, ready-made option.
Some were a little surprised to see the Lions make a midseason change at kicker. There was no real inciting incident, as Patterson was 15 of 17 on field goals this season, although he did miss two of 37 extra-point attempts.
According to special teams coordinator Dave Fipp, the change was made due to the long competition in practice over the past six weeks.
“Internally, we had these guys competing in training, so each of them was getting about six kicks a day and we were kicking them at least twice a week, so it was 12 kicks a week,” Fipp explained last week. “And over the course of six weeks, Badgley was better, and we didn't want to rush into that decision straight away. We felt he deserved as fair a chance as we could give him, but it was clear at the end of the day he was playing better.
In his two games with Detroit, Badgley attempted just one field goal (37 yards) and is 9 of 10 on extra points. His only miss was prevented by the Vikings last week.
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