Buffalo Bills rookie Tyler Bass takes Stephen Hauschka’s job

Tyler Bass beats out Stephen Hauschka for Buffalo Bills kicker job.

The Buffalo Bills didn’t use a sixth-round draft pick on the kicker position for nothing.

Although using a draft selection on a kicker is not entirely uncommon, it’s one of the positions where players really have to stand out among the crowd to hear their names called on draft weekend.

Tyler Bass, the young man who just won the Bills’ kicking job, apparently stood out at training camp as well as the pre-draft process.

Hauschka is entering his 13th NFL season but this one won’t be in Buffalo. For his career, he has made 85.7 percent of his kicks, but his field goal percentage dropped to under 79 percent in each of the last two seasons.

Hauschka has also missed three extra-point attempts over the last two seasons.

Bass, the rookie out of Georgia Southern, attempted 109 extra points over the last three seasons and only missed one of them.

With that being said, Bass missed eight of his kicks this past season after hitting on over 90 percent of his attempts in 2018. That must be the upside the Bills are banking on, plus whatever he has been able to show them in camp thus far.

In the NFL, the kicking game is so crucial, but you don’t realize how important it is until you all of a sudden have a huge problem.

Rookie kickers who are drafted have so much pressure on them and especially for a player like Bass on a team like Buffalo that plays in some pretty crazy weather situations all throughout the season.

Whatever he’s shown them to this point in training camp, it looks like Bass has proven he’s the man for the job, and he’s got some big shoes to fill taking over for Hauschka, one of the most accurate kickers in the NFL over the last decade.

If Bass can be lights out from 40-plus yards, this move could be a substantial upgrade for them.