UFL Kicker Being Targeted By Multiple NFL Teams After Drilling His First Field Goal Since High School

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The UFL is the latest football league to give players who failed to attract the interest of NFL teams a chance to prove they have what it takes to make the cut, and kicker Jake Bates only needed a single field goal—which was also the first one he’d made since he was in high school—to generate some interest.

Over the weekend, the United Football League (the creation of a merger between the XFL and the USFL) kicked off its inaugural season with the help of the eight teams who faced off to officially usher in the latest in a line of spring football experiments that haven’t exactly taken the world by storm.

The slate included Saturday’s showdown between the St. Louis Battlehawks and the Michigan Panthers in Detroit, which featured some late-game heroics courtesy of Jake Bates, the Panthers kicker who gave his squad the 18-16 win at home with the 64-yard field goal that split the uprights in the closing seconds of the fourth quarter.

Now, you might assume Bates had some previous experience when it comes to kicking lengthy field goals in high-pressure situations prior to arriving in the UFL. However, that wasn’t actually the case.

Bates was primarily known for his skills as a soccer player and was a member of the team at the University of Central Arkansas before he decided to pursue a different kind of football when he enrolled at Texas Tech in 2020.

The Red Raiders only used him for kickoffs during his two seasons in Lubbock, and the Razorbacks harnessed the same approach when he finished his college career at Arkansas in 2022. He did sign with the Texans as a free agent last year, but he ultimately failed to make the team and only attempted a couple of extra points during the preseason.

However, it sounds like his NFL dreams are still alive and well, as Tony Paul of The Detroit News reports the Panthers were contacted by multiple franchises (including the Lions) who expressed interest in Bates after seeing his 64-yarder, which was the first field goal he’d made in a real, actual game since he was in high school.

Another source claims Bates will likely finish out the current UFL season before potentially taking his talents to an NFL roster, which means he’ll likely have more opportunities to prove his worth (or, on the flip side of the coin, show the field goal that put him on the map was actually a fluke).