The Buffalo Bills released Stephen Hauschka on Thursday signaling that Tyler Bass will be their starting placekicker.
The Buffalo Bills announced on Thursday that they have released kicker Stephen Hauschka. The release of Hauschka also simultaneously announces that sixth round draft pick Tyler Bass will be the Bills starting placekicker this coming season.
The news of Hauschka’s release is a bit of a surprise especially considering Sean McDermott mentioned during his call with media the possibility of keeping two kickers. Sal Capaccio of WGR550 tweeted that due to the pandemic, and what happened with the false positives over the weekend, it might make sense for them to keep both place kickers.
McDermott said keeping two kickers is something they will consider due to the Covid situation. Refers to what happened over the weekend with the testing irregularities. But added, "does that mean we are going to do that? Not necessarily."
— Sal Capaccio 🏈 (@SalSports) August 27, 2020
However, the Bills did have a scrimmage on Thursday and both Bass and Hauschka kicked during this time. While both missed kicks, Bass missed a 55-yard attempt while Hauschka missed an extra point attempt.
Stephen Hauschka joined the Buffalo Bills as a free agent in 2017 and had been the team’s placekicker for three seasons. While he played well his first year with the team, his accuracy and leg strength started to slip recently. This past season he made only one of five field goal attempts over 50 yards.
For this reason, it wasn’t surprising that the Bills went out and selected Tyler Bass in the NFL Draft. The former Georgia Southern kicker has tremendous leg strength and had a clear advantage in this department over the veteran.
As his scouting report by Lance Zierlein of NFL.com notes, Bass was regularly kicking the ball through the end zone on kickoffs once again demonstrating that leg strength.
Another reason the move today isn’t too surprising is that there are some financial implications by releasing Stephen Hauschka. The release of the veteran kicker now frees up over $2 million in cap space this year, which can be rolled over to next year, and another $2.5 million next year. This will certainly help in a year that the salary cap is expected to be significantly less than originally expected due to the pandemic.
The release of veteran K Stephen Hauschka frees up $2.175M of 2020 cap space & another $2.55M in 2021 for the #Bills, who will turn to 2020 6th round pick Tyler Bass for their kicking duties. https://t.co/cSaSOXPhMJ
— Spotrac (@spotrac) August 27, 2020
It is certainly a risk going with a rookie at an often overlooked, but critical, position. However, the draft capital the Buffalo Bills invested, combined with the drop in performance as well as the cap savings, this was a smart move for the team.