One of Jake Bates’ biggest areas of improvement has nothing to do with making kicks

One of Jake Bates’ biggest areas of improvement has nothing to do with making kicks

ALLEN PARK — For the Detroit Lions in 2024, kickoffs were largely boring. The Lions kicked off to opponents an NFL-high 110 times last season — that’s the result of having a ridiculously strong offense — and 85 of those attempts resulted in a touchback, also a league-high mark. First-year kicker Jake Bates, who put foot to leather on each of those boots, had a touchback rate of 79%, which ranked eighth among the 30 players who kicked off at leas…