Jake Bates Named NFC Special Teams Player of the Month

Bates has surged in first season with Lions, earns monthly honor.

Detroit Lions place kicker Jake Bates (39). / Lon Horwedel-Imagn Images

The Detroit Lions' decision to add Jake Bates has paid major dividends throughout the first 12 games of the 2024 season.

On Thursday, it was announced that Bates had earned NFC Special Teams Player of the Month honors for November. The first-year kicker totaled 41 points in the month, making all 17 of his extra point attempts and knocking down 8-for-9 field goal attempts.

He's the first Lions kicker to win the award since Matt Prater did so in September of 2017. He is the third player in franchise history to win the award, joining Prater and Jason Hanson.

Bates was also 4-for-4 on field goal attempts of 50-plus yards throughout the month. On the season, the Texas native is 19-for-20 on field goal attempts this season, having made 19 consecutive field goals to start his career before missing his final attempt against the Bears on Thanksgiving.

The Lions have remained steadfast in their belief in Bates, who struggled at points during training camp. He became the team's lone kicker after an injury to Michael Badgley, and while he was initially up and down during camp, he has played his role nearly perfectly this season.

Bates has made two game-winning field goals this season, including a 52-yard boot against Houston at the buzzer. In that Houston game, he also notched his career-long 58-yard field goal.

Even after missing for the first time this season, special teams coordinator Dave Fipp had a positive evaluation of Bates' performance during his media availability Monday.

"I thought the whole operation probably could’ve been better, honestly, on that play. That being said, we should’ve made the kick," Fipp said. "I mean, you can say the operation should be better on darn near every one of these things if you’re being critical enough, but, like I’ve always said, the job of the kicker is to make it. If you play in high school, you’ve got to have everything perfect, if you play in the NFL everything can’t be perfect and you’ve still got to be perfect and make it. But no, he’s having a great year for us, he’s done a great job, he’s still in a good spot, he’s hitting the ball well, we kicked yesterday, he looks great."

👏👏👏 @jakebates30 pic.twitter.com/0murY7scuY

— Detroit Lions (@Lions) December 5, 2024

On the season, the Lions have now had a player win offensive, defensive and special teams Player of The Month awards in a single season. Aidan Hutchinson was the September Defensive Player of the Month, while Jared Goff was the October Offensive Player of the Month.

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