Titans Kicker Michael Badgley in First Round of Cuts on Sunday; 5 Others Released

The Tennessee Titans are in the market for a kicker once again after releasing newly signed Michael Badgley on Sunday. He was one of six roster cuts, and played just one game with the Titans. He was 3-for-4 on field goals Friday night against New England, and made both extra points.

NASHVILLE — The Tennessee Titans need to get their roster down to 53 players by Tuesday, and they started the trimming process on Sunday, waiving six players.

The most notable name was kicker Michael Badgley, who had a whirlwind week. He was cut by the Washington Commanders last weekend, agreed to terms with the Titans a day later and flew overnight in time to make it to Monday's practice. 

He missed a field goal attempt during Tuesday's Blue-White scrimmage, plus a few others during the week. In Friday night's preseason game against the New England Patriots, he was 3-for-4 on field goal attempts, with a miss from 39 yards out and another kick that hit the upright and bounced in.

"Well, you've got to make them,'' Titans coach Mike Vrabel said after the game Saturday night when asked about Badgley's performance. "But he bounced back. We'll take a look at it and go through his performance and see what it looked like and go from there just like we will everybody else. I know he'd like to have that one back, but it's unfortunate.''

It was certainly unfortunate enough that Badgley — a 28-year-old who's been in the league since 2018 and even kicked in one game for the Titans in 2021 — was sent packing. The Titans opened camp with kickers Caleb Shaduk and Trey Wolff, but neither impressed and were both cut last weekend after Tennessee's preseason road win at Minnesota.

Now, the Titans will actively scour the waiver wire on Tuesday to get their next kicker. There are several teams with more than one good kicker on their roster, so there will be some options when the league trims to 53 players by 3 p.m. CT.

Also waived on Sunday were defensive back Alonzo Davis, wide receiver Gavin Holmes, tackle Zack Johnson, center Jimmy Murray and tight end Justin Rigg. The Titans are now down to 84 players.

"I wouldn't say I kicked my best. Obviously, you'll take the ones that go in because they're worth three points,'' Badgley said Saturday night. "I can kick better than that, though. I was happy with how my kickoffs went, but we'll see what management wants to do.

"It was good to be back here, and get to know the guys a little bit. I kicked them deep on the kickoffs.''

The Titans are back to practice on Monday morning. Their first regular season game is on Sept. 10 in New Orleans.

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