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Detroit Lions tender K Jake Bates as exclusive rights free agent
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- Detroit Lions tender K Jake Bates as exclusive rights free agent
The Detroit Lions have tendered Jake Bates a qualifying offer as an exclusive rights free agent, ensuring Bates will be on their roster in 2026.
The decision to bring Bates back was an easy one for the Lions .
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ERFAs have no bargaining power after receiving their non-guaranteed one-year minimum-salary offers and Bates has performed well in his first two NFL seasons.
Jake Bates of the Detroit Lions celebrates after a game winning field goal as time expires against the Chicago Bears at Soldier Field in Chicago on Sunday, Jan. 4, 2026.
After starring for the Michigan Panthers of the UFL , Bates signed with the Lions in 2024. He made 26 of 29 field goals and 64 of 67 extra points in his first season in Detroit, when he set a franchise record with 142 points, and was 27-for-34 on field goals and 54-for-56 on PATs last year.
Bates made 19 consecutive field goals to start his NFL career and hit a career-long 59-yarder last November to force overtime in a game against the New York Giants .
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Bates, who never attempted a field goal in college and worked briefly as a brick salesman before catching on in the UFL, is known to have one of the strongest legs in the NFL.
"I think he's a great player, he's going to be an incredible player in this league, he's a tremendous talent," Lions special teams coordinator Dave Fipp said late last season. "We'd be dying to find a guy like him if we didn't have him. And that doesn't mean he's not going to have some ups and downs. He's going to have that throughout the course of his career."
The Lions previously signed three ERFAs to contracts after the season: Running back Jacob Saylors , cornerback Nick Whiteside and offensive lineman Michael Niese.
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Dave Birkett covers the Lions for the Detroit Free Press. Contact him at dbirkett@freepress.com . Follow him on Bluesky , X and Instagram at @davebirkett.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit Lions tender K Jake Bates as exclusive rights free agent
