The Michigan Panthers came up short in their bid to make it to the UFL title game on Saturday, and star kicker and potential Detroit Lions free-agent target, Jake Bates, came up with an injury in the process.
Bates helped the Panthers jump out to a 12-0 lead early in the first half, but it was all downhill from there, as the Stallions outscored Michigan 31-6 the rest of the way to punch their ticket to next week's championship game.
Bates saw his own issues, though, with the standout kicker missing a pair of field goals and sending a kickoff out of bounds that the Stallions turned into points.
One of the aforementioned misses came on a blocked kick where Bates slipped and appeared to have suffered a foot injury.
Jake Bates ankle rolled on that one and the telecast is saying he’s injured on the field
— Mike Payton (@AtoZ_Payton) June 8, 2024
Here's a look at the play in question:
BLOCKED 😤pic.twitter.com/FoTTUBljX9
— B2B CHAMPIONSTALLIONS 🏆🏆 (@USFLStallions) June 8, 2024
Unfortunately, we don't have an injury update on Bates as of this writing. He finished the game 4-of-6 on field goals, with makes from 53, 42, 39, 25, and misses from 51 and 44.
With the UFL season coming to a close, Bates will be able to talk to NFL teams who are interested in his services. The Lions have been reported to be one of those teams and Bates would be a nice addition to their competition.
He didn't have an ideal end to the campaign but still finished 21-of-28 (75%) this season (including playoffs), with a whopping seven makes from 50-plus, and three of those came from 60-plus.
