The Bills are down to their third kicking option as Tyler Bass‘ replacement kicker, Matt Prater, is reportedly week-to-week with a quad injury, per Jay Skurski of The Buffalo News. As a result, Tom Pelissero of NFL Network announced today that Buffalo has turned to the free agent market, signing veteran kicker Michael Badgley. 
Badgley is coming to Buffalo on a practice squad deal, as he’s unlikely to stay long if Prater is legitimately week-to-week. Per Aaron Wilson of KPRC 2, the Bills hosted the Miami alum today alongside fellow free agent kicker Matthew Wright; Badgley emerged from the tryout with the deal.
Badgley recently had a seven-game stint with the Colts as an injury replacement for Spencer Shrader before getting cut and replaced by Blake Grupe. Badgley was mostly reliable kicking field goals with Indianapolis, converting 10 of 11 attempts with his only miss coming from over 50 yards. The Colts cut Badgley the week after he had a third missed extra point attempt in just seven games.
The Bills become Badgley’s seventh NFL team. It was the Colts that signed him out of college as an undrafted free agent, but he made his NFL debut with the Chargers, playing three years in Los Angeles. His 2021 and 2022 campaigns were eerily similar, seeing him play one game with the Titans (2021) and Bears (2022) before spending 12 games with division rivals Indianapolis (2021) and Detroit (2022).
He spent parts of the offseason in 2023 with the Commanders and Titans before ultimately returning to the Lions and stepping up late during the team’s run to the NFC Championship game. Staying with Detroit last year, Badgley suffered a torn hamstring that would keep him out until he returned to play in Indianapolis this year.
The Bills are headed to Cleveland this weekend in what’s sure to be a cold game. The teams Badgley’s spent most of his career with have mostly played in indoor stadiums, so Cleveland will be a good test, in case Badgley needs to stick around for more than one game in Buffalo during this closing stretch of the season.