Tyler

Bass

The Bills signed kicker Lucas Havrisik this week to serve as competition for Bass, who has converted on 9-of-12 field goals this season and 18-of-20 extra points. The Bills signed Bass to a four-year extension last offseason, so we wouldn’t expect them to rush to move on from him. With that said, they’re clearly open to the idea with Havrisik now in the building.

The deal is worth “up to” $21 million. That’s a meaningless number, especially for a kicker, but it does include a robust $12.3 million guaranteed. It’s a deserved extension for a 26-year-old who has converted north of 87 percent of his field goal attempts each of the past two seasons in one of the toughest weather divisions in football. Bass doesn’t have the biggest leg, but his accuracy is more than sufficient for the Super Bowl-or-bust Bills.

Strange. The Bills are still looking at kickers two weeks after waiving veteran Stephen Hauschka and seemingly giving the starting nod to rookie Tyler Bass. Buffalo tried out kickers Matthew McCrane (Kansas State), Tristan Vizcaino (Washington), and Ramiz Ahmed (Nevada). Bass, who made a meager 20 of 28 field goal tries last year at Georgia Southern, would make a decent fantasy option in Week 1. Buffalo is a 6.5-point home favorite against the Jets.

Bass beat out veteran Stephen Hauschka. If teams use a draft pick on a kicker, they are usually going to win the job, but Bass was a bit of a head-scratching pick. He enters the league out of small-school Georgia Southern having converted just 20-of-28 kicks as a redshirt senior. The Bills are obviously in love with his leg, while Bass did convert 114-of-116 college extra points. The lack of fans early in the season could help a young kicker gain confidence.

Rookie sixth-rounder Tyler Bass has won the Bills’ kicking competition. That was always going to happen as long as Bass did not face plant in camp. Hauschka’s release clears $1.55 million in cap space while leaving behind $1.5 million in dead money. 35-year-old Hauschka was sub-80 percent on field goals each of the past two seasons. Buffalo is a tough place to kick, but that will eventually earn you your walking papers as an NFL kicker. Hauschka will still undoubtedly be one of the first players teams host for a workout when they need a kicker.

Bass (5'11/185) has sunk 114-of-116 extra points in college and made 90% of his field goals as a redshirt junior. Unfortunately, he only made 20-of-28 kicks as a redshirt senior. On the surface it’s confusing why he was selected in the sixth round, but he will likely be the Bills kicker in 2020 given the draft capital.

Bass (5'11/185) has sunk 114-of-116 extra points in college and made 90% of his field goals as a redshirt junior. Unfortunately, he only made 20-of-28 kicks as a redshirt senior. On the surface it’s confusing why he was selected in the sixth round, but he will very likely be the Bills kicker in 2020 given the draft capital.

Zierlein’s biggest hurdle with Bass as an outright draft pick comes in his lack of reps on kicks of 50 or more yards. That said, the analyst notes that the Georgia Southern booter has shown a “repeatable process” mechanically and impressed from distance at the Senior Bowl.

Bass (5-10/185) is considered one of the top kickers in the country, hitting on 51-of-65 career field goals and missing just one extra-point in his time with the Eagles. He wasn’t quite as good this year, however, going 17-of-25 on his kicks and missing on 8-of-14 tries outside of 40 yards. Still, he definitely has an NFL leg, and he’ll look to show it in Mobile near the end of January.

Bass made a 50-yarder to make it 17-7 at the half, and his second kick extended the lead to 20-14. The last one was the biggest, however, as he nailed a 40-yard kick with no time left on the clock to give the Eagles the victory and their 10th win of the year. Bass made 18-of-20 kicks on the year, and he showed a big leg on Saturday. He’ll be a weapon for the Eagles again in 2019.