Riley Patterson Makes History For Lions As A Kicker

The Detroit Lions are in the process of trying to find players for the future and they may have been able to do just that at the key position of the kicker. All eyes are now on Riley Patterson after he made an eye-opening history for the Lions.

An injury to Austin Seibert forced Riley Patterson into the spotlight and hasn’t left ever since. Young kickers are often considered powerless when they start the league, but Patterson is a rare exception. He hasn’t missed a single kick or extra point, and as Lions PR pointed out, is the first player to hit all of his first four field goals in a Lions uniform since Eddie Murray in 1980.

Coming into the league out of Memphis, Patterson is one of the more accurate kickers coming from college in terms of extra points. In a four-year career with the Tigers, Patterson missed just a total of six extra points, going 240-246 with the team, which is good for a 97.6% conversion rate. However, kicks are where Patterson has seen most of his problems in college.

@Lions K @rileypatterson7 has made the first 4 field goals attempts of his career. The last Lions rookie kicker to make each of his first-four field goal attempts was K Eddie Murray in 1980.

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While Seibert could be seen as a quality young option for the team as well for 2022, it’s hard to ignore Patterson’s debut. The youngster looked relatively calm and controlled in his first game. Between him and Seibert, there could be a quality kicking competition next season where the best young player could truthfully win. At this point, it’s impossible to say that Patterson won’t seize the opportunity he now has with Detroit.

Patterson also has decent accuracy in his past given his 92% conversion rate in 2019. That was the highest total for the kicker in his college career. Thus far, Patterson looks good. He will have a many more shots to prove himself moving forward.