UFL star and Michigan Panthers kicker Jake Bates, who has reportedly drawn interest from the Detroit Lions, has had a wildly successful year in 2024 but has started to come back down to earth a bit in recent weeks.
Bates has not made a field goal in each of the past two games and has missed one in each contest in that span. Last week, he missed a 51-yard field goal in what was his only attempt, and then he followed that up with another miss in Week 9 that was certainly notable given what he's done this season.
The Panthers kicker missed his only attempt in the first quarter that came from just 39 yards out. It was the shortest miss of Bates' season thus far after his previous misfires came from 62, 58 and 51 yards out. Despite the miss, the Panthers ended up winning, 26-22.
Three of those misses (58, 62 and 39) came outdoors, and the 51-yarder was indoors on turf. Adding to that, all of Bates' failed attempts have gone wide right. He's now 15-of-19 on the season, with six makes of 50-plus yards, including three from 60-plus.
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While a bit concerning for Bates and the Panthers moving forward, he deserves the benefit of the doubt. After all, kickers go through rough patches all of the time and Bates has done enough to warrant not making a big deal about it.
Now, it'll be interesting to see how he bounces back from his recent struggles. Bates and the Panthers will be back in action on Saturday, June 1, at 2 p.m. ET when they take on the Birmingham Stallions in the regular season finale at Protective Stadium. Michigan has already punched its ticket to the postseason.
