The Bills have found a solution for their injury issue at kicker.
Buffalo announced on Tuesday that the club has signed Matthew Wright to its practice squad.
Wright, 29, appeared in four games this season for three different teams. He made one field goal for in one contest with the Titans, an extra point in one game for the Commanders, and was 4-of-4 on field goals and 2-of-2 on extra points in two games with the Texans.
Wright was Jacksonville’s full-time kicker in 2021, hitting 21-of-24 field goals in 14 games while hitting 13-of-15 extra points. But other than that, he’s been limited to fill-in duty. Nevertheless, he’s connected on 60-of-68 career field goals (88.2 percent) and 45-of-47 extra points (95.7 percent).
Matt Prater aggravated his quad injury during the Bills’ Week 18 victory over the Jets. Michael Badgley had recently filled in for Prater for two games, but missed a pair of extra points.
Head coach Sean McDermott had noted on Monday that the team would have tryouts for kicker.
Additionally, the Bills have signed kicker Maddux Trujillo to a futures deal and released offensive lineman Richard Gouraige from the practice squad.
Bills head coach Sean McDermott gave an update on the team’s kicking situation on Monday.
Matt Prater returned from missing two games with a quad injury against the Jets in Week 18, but he had to leave the game after re-injuring the muscle. On Monday, McDermott said that Prater is considered day-to-day as the team moves toward Sunday’s game in Jacksonville.
McDermott said that the team will be working out kickers in order to have a backup plan in the event Prater is not able to play.
The Bills released Michael Badgley last week when Prater was deemed healthy enough to return. McDermott did not say whether he’s in consideration for a return.
The 2025 season was the year that 60-yard field goals became commonplace in the NFL.
NFL kickers went 12-for-22 on field goals of 60 yards and longer this season, something that would have been unthinkable for most of NFL history. Jaguars kicker Cam Little led the way with the two longest field goals in NFL history, a 68-yarder in November and a 67-yarder on the last day of the season. Cowboys kicker brandon Aubrey hit three field goals from beyond 60 yards in 2025.
Never before in NFL history had kickers come remotely close to their level of success from 60 yards and beyond. In 2024, kickers were 4-for-15 on field goals of 60 yards and longer. As recently as 2014, there wasn’t a single 60-yard field goal in the NFL all season (kickers went 0-for-5 from beyond 60 yards that year).
In the entire 20th Century, there were only four field goals of 60 yards or longer.
Kickers have completely redefined field goal range in the NFL, to the point where a 60-yard field goal attempt doesn’t seem like a particularly big risk. Sixty yards is well within the range of many kickers in the modern NFL.
Home-field advantage might not mean much in the first round of the NFL playoffs.
Of the six games in the wild card round, the road teams are favored in four.
The biggest favorites are the Rams, who are 9.5-point favorites to beat the Panthers in Carolina. But that might be just fine with the Panthers: The Rams were previously 10-point favorites at Carolina in the regular season, but the Panthers won 31-28.
The Packers are 1.5-point favorites on the road in Chicago. It will be the third meeting of the two teams in the last six weeks after they played twice in December. The Bears beat the Packers 22-16 in overtime in Chicago in the regular season, while the Packers beat the Bears 28-21 in Green Bay.
The Bills are 1.5-point favorites against the Jaguars at Jacksonville. The Jaguars lost twice at home in the regular season.
The Eagles are 3.5-point favorites at home against the 49ers. The Eagles lost twice at home in the regular season.
The Patriots are 3.5-point favorites at home against the Chargers. The Patriots went 14-3 this season, but all three losses were at home.
The Texans are 3-point favorites on the road against the Steelers. The Steelers lost at home three times in the regular season.
If the betting lines are to be believed, only two division winners, the No. 2 seed Eagles and Patriots, will advance to the divisional round.
The NFL has announced the wild-card weekend schedule for Jan. 10-12:
Saturday, Jan. 10
4:30 p.m. 5 Los Angeles Rams at 4 Carolina Panthers (FOX, FOX Deportes)
8 p.m. 7 Green Bay Packers at 2 Chicago Bears (Prime Video)
Sunday, Jan. 11
1 p.m. 6 Buffalo Bills at 3 Jacksonville Jaguars (CBS, Paramount+)
4:30 p.m. 6 San Francisco 49ers at 3 Philadelphia Eagles (FOX, FOX Deportes)
8 p.m. 7 Los Angeles Chargers at 2 New England Patriots (NBC, Peacock, Universo)
Monday, Jan. 12
8 p.m. 5 Houston Texans at 4 Baltimore/Pittsburgh (ESPN/ABC/ESPN+/ ESPN Deportes; ManningCast-ESPN2/ESPN+)
