It was a great bounce-back year for Buffalo’s kicker
In the history of the Buffalo Bills, there are only four players ever to wear the number two. With apologies to infamous former quarterback Nathan Peterman, three of those four players have been good while wearing that number. Aside from Peterman, the other players also play the same position.
Dan Carpenter wore No. 2 for the Bills, and he was a solid kicker for the club for four seasons. Before him, it was Steve Christie who donned the number well from 1992-2000. Christie was one of the NFL’s best kickers at the time, and he’s rightly held in high regard with the Bills’ franchise.
The current No. 2 has done the number proud, as well, upholding the tradition of strong performance from the kicker spot. In today’s edition of “90 players in 90 days,” we discuss the kicker who’s number two in the program and number one on the depth chart.
Name: Tyler Bass
Number: 2
Position: K
Height/Weight: 5’10” 183 lbs.
Age: 28 (29 on 2/14/2026)
Experience/Draft: 6; selected by Buffalo in the sixth round (No. 188 overall) of the 2020 NFL Draft
College: Georgia Southern
Acquired: Sixth-round draft choice
Financial situation (per Spotrac): Bass enters the second year of a four-year, $20.4 million contract extension he signed in 2023. His cap hit for the 2025 season is $4.67 million. If he’s released, Buffalo will carry a dead-cap charge of $5.97 million.
2024 Recap: After a horrendous postseason that ended with him missing a potential game-tying field goal in a loss to the Kansas City Chiefs, there was some speculation about Bass’ job status heading into the 2024 season. When he missed three field goals and two extra points in the first six games, that speculation turned to flat-out worry in many corners.
However, Bass wouldn’t miss another field goal until Week 13 in a snow game against the San Francisco 49ers. He missed two extra points in that time frame, and both came in victories. He missed a PAT in a 30-21 victory over the Kansas City Chiefs while nailing his only field goal attempt. He also missed a PAT against the Miami Dolphins in a game that provided one of the more uplifting moments of the 2024 season. With just 11 seconds remaining in regulation, head coach Sean McDermott sent Bass on to kick a potential game-winning 61-yard field goal. Bass drilled it right down the middle to give the Bills a 30-27 victory.
He finished the regular season by making 24-of-29 field goals (83%) and 59-of-64 extra points (92%). In the postseason, Bass was perfect, hitting all six of his field goal attempts and all seven of his point-after attempts.
Positional outlook: Bass is a one-man show this summer, as there are no other kickers in camp.
2025 Offseason: Bass is healthy and participating in offseason work.
2025 Season outlook: Bass, like all of us, is human. He is going to struggle sometimes with mechanics, confidence, and focus. After going to some dark places early last season, watching him nail the game-winner against Miami was an incredible moment, as it clearly took a two-ton weight off of No. 2’s shoulders.
While the kicker’s job may “just” be to kick, that job comes with tremendous pressure. I try not to overlook that when I’m evaluating Bass’ performance — and yes, I know he’s a professional, but that doesn’t make him immune to all of the pitfalls of humanity.
With all of that said, it’s intriguing to me how Bass struggled so much with extra point attempts. Over the last few years, Bass has missed eight extra points. Five of those misses came last season. He has not missed an extra point in a postseason game since 2021, however. Given that Bass was a perfect seven-for-seven on his field goals of 30-39 yards last season, I assume that the issue with extra points was a mental one and not a physical one.
As much as we’d like Buffalo’s kicker to be perfect, we know that’s not really possible. If Bass can keep himself in a good place mentally, he’s one of the better kickers in the league, especially from long distance. However, it’s keeping himself in that good mental place that is easier said than done. Here’s hoping that Bass’ second half of the season (21-of-23 on field goals including playoff games; 48-of-51 on PATs including playoff games) is indicative of the 2025 season he’s going to have.