Due to an injury in 2025, Tyler Bass never took the field for the Buffalo Bills. The Bills’ kicker since 2020, Bass still holds the team record for most points in a single season with 141 points during his rookie year. That beat out Steve Christie’s former record by a single point, and three ahead of O.J. Simpson’s 1975 season.
Bass actually sits not only in the number one spot for this record, but also spots four, six, eight, and 13. A lot of this is due to the offense getting Bass into position for field goals and extra points at a high rate, but the bottom line is that Bass adds a ton of points to the team.
Do you know who is a bit down the list? Matt Prater. His 100 points comes in at 34th in the list. Despite that, Prater had overall good vibes from fans. Prater is currently set for free agency, but if the Bills really liked what he brought to the table, Buffalo could try to keep him around.
When it comes to money matters, Bass is still under contract, but not for any crazy amount since he’s a kicker and all. Prater (or a third option) would come cheap so any significant reluctance with Bass means he’s not immovable. We’re here for analysis though. Which kicker has the edge?
I’m a big fan of heat-mapping my tables. In the above one, I used the league average from this year as a baseline. Light blue cells are good, light red cells are bad. Gray cells are either neutral or need context for any sort of meaning. Let’s break things down with some fun thoughts and since there aren’t too many, let’s go line by line.
For my two cents, it would be nice to have an automatic kicker, but neither Matt Prater nor Tyler Bass held the team back a crazy amount. I would likely roll with Bass unless there’s a compelling reason to think he won’t be ready to go for a second season in a row.