Jake Bates doesn’t consider himself a hero, but a man of faith. He was never among the best school statistics, his name did not appear in any university game, he was never mentioned in an NFL Draft and yet he has been the key piece in the joys of the Detroit Lions and their historic 8-1 season, a record that the franchise had not seen since 1954.
Jake was 23 years old when he was convinced to give up on his dream of being a professional player; a dream that he nurtured since he was a teenager by playing both soccer and football at Tomball High School in Texas, then he profiled soccer in Central Arkansas and played little football at Texas State and the University of Arkansas, but only He was in charge of kickoffs.
His sporting goals faded little by little and when the sporting path lost its way, he got a job as a partition salesman at Acme Brick in Houston, Texas.
“I was working as a brick salesman in Houston and I thought my dream was over. I thought football was over for me and I had to move on to do other things with my life, fortunately God had something else in store for me,” he confessed. .
But in 2023 there was a new “light on the way” of the sport and he played in a small professional league where he made a 64-yard field goal; then the doors reopened before him: in June of this year he signed a contract with the Detroit Lions, with the goal of being Michael Badgley‘s backup, but the starting kicker suffered a hamstring injury that left him out for the entire season and in Instead of preparing with the practice squad, one more door opened on Bates’ path to ownership
Things were not so simple. During the tryouts the Lions continued to look for more kicker options, but in the end they decided to stick with Bates.
