Bills add 41-year-old kicking insurance with Tyler Bass facing Week 1 injury concern

There's a chance that Buffalo Bills' primary placekicker Tyler Bass won't be available for the September 7 opener against the Baltimore Ravens.

Bass was officially listed as a limited participant on the week's first injury report, and the Bills aren't taking any chances of being caught without a kicker on Sunday Night Football. Buffalo signed veteran Matt Prater to the practice squad on Thursday, giving the team the ability to designate him as a gameday elevation if need be.

Prater has not kicked in an NFL regular season game since Week 4 last year with the Arizona Cardinals. After missing Weeks 5 and 6 due to a left knee issue, Prater landed on Injured Reserve. He opted for free agency after the 2024 season, but remained unsigned until now. In order to create a practice squad spot for Prater, the Bills moved defensive tackle DeWayne Carter onto Injured Reserve and promoted Sam Franklin from the practice squad to the 53-man roster.

The 41-year-old Prater has spent 18 years kicking in the NFL, including seven seasons apiece with both the Denver Broncos and Detroit Lions. The Central Florida product has converted 83.6 percent of field goal attempts over the course of 254 regular season games, including an 81-of-108 sample from 50+ yards.

As for Bass, it appears he's still struggling to get over the pelvic soreness that sidelined him for three weeks of training camp practices. He eventually returned to action by kicking effectively in the August 23 preseason finale, but the Bills subsequently worked out three kickers after the NFL cutdown deadline, suggesting all was not well with Bass.

Prior to Wednesday's practice, head coach Sean McDermott noted that Bass wasn't expected to fully participate due to a problem in the "same area" that has plagued the kicker since July 28. The injury has officially been termed left hip/groin issue.

Interestingly enough, Prater was not one of the three kickers (Eddy Piñeiro, Greg Joseph and Zane Gonzalez) who attended the official tryout last Thursday.