The Buffalo Bills are heading into a crucial Week 16 matchup against the Cleveland Browns with a major question mark at a key position: kicker. Head coach Sean McDermott confirmed Monday that veteran Matt Prater will not be available due to a quadriceps injury - a tough blow for a team in the thick of the playoff hunt.
“Not ideal,” McDermott said. “Matt’s done a really good job having that consistency during the year.”
And he’s right - Prater has been a steady hand for Buffalo in a season that’s demanded resilience at every turn. His reliability has helped stabilize a special teams unit that’s already had to adjust once this year. But now, with Prater sidelined and no definitive timeline for his return, the Bills are once again facing a kicking conundrum.
What makes this even more complicated is that Buffalo can’t turn to their original starter, Tyler Bass. The team announced earlier this month that Bass underwent season-ending surgery to address a lingering left hip and groin issue. He was placed on injured reserve before Week 1 and spent months rehabbing, but ultimately the injury didn’t respond the way the team had hoped.
“He was dealing with it, it wasn’t going away,” McDermott said. “We thought it was going away, then it wasn’t as he tried to get himself back ready… so the decision against surgery was almost made up for him.”
That leaves Buffalo in a tough spot. With both Bass and Prater unavailable, the Bills are now forced to look outside the building for answers - whether that’s signing a free agent or poaching a kicker from another team’s practice squad.
This is not the situation any playoff-hopeful team wants to be in with just a few weeks left in the regular season. Kicking may not always grab headlines, but it’s often the difference between a win and a loss - especially in tight December games with postseason implications. And for a team like Buffalo, still clawing to secure a division title and keep the New England Patriots at bay, every point matters.
The challenge now is finding someone who can step in and deliver under pressure - not just someone with a strong leg, but someone who can handle the weight of late-season expectations. The pool of available kickers isn’t exactly deep, and if a player is still unsigned at this point in the year, there’s usually a reason.
The Bills already struck gold once when they brought in Prater after Bass went down. Now, they’ll need to hit again - and fast. Because in a season where margins are razor-thin, one missed field goal could be the difference between home-field advantage and watching the playoffs from the couch.