Will Prater Be Signed to the 53?

[SoonerBillsFan]

54 minutes ago, Warriorspikes51 said:

 

Bass has to go and McDermott has to wake up to this fact

[BillsFanForever19]

1 hour ago, Warriorspikes51 said:

I would hope Prater is signed to the 53 today?

 

If not, desperate teams could look to poach him from the PS

So, how do we handle Bass?   Keep him on IR all season?   Keep 2 Kickers on the 53?  

Waive Bass and hope he goes unclaimed then add him to the PS?  (Not sure if that's possible / vested veteran) 

 

He'll be signed to the 53. Bass was put on IR to make room for him. The only reason it didn't happen before Week 1 is bc signing him when they put Bass on IR would have guaranteed Prater's salary for the entire season. By waiting until after Week 1, they can just pay him week to week.

 

They can't sign him today as the league week hasn't concluded yet. No one's going to "poach" him. He knows we're going to sign him this week and it's not like you can just sign a player off the Practice Squad of another team without the player's approval. That only happens if a player has an option to sign with another team and the team he's on the Practice Squad for doesn't want to match the offer to keep him. That isn't the case here. The roster spot is already open.

 

And why would we waive Bass and then add him to the PS? He's on IR. You roll with Prater on the 53 and evaluate his performance along the way and when Bass is healthy - you either activate him and release Prater if he hasn't looked good or if Prater is Perfect, you just keep Bass on IR.

Edited Monday at 09:54 PM by BillsFanForever19

[ChevyVanMiller]

14 minutes ago, Ethan in Cleveland said:

That is not how PS works.

 

Each week the Bills have to designate him protected or not. That apparently happens on Tuesday, though I don't know if they actually announce who the protected players are.  There is a max for four players per week and it has nothing to do with whether they were elevated or not. 

If they do not designate them as protected, teams don't put a claim in on him. They must sign him to their active 53.  If Bills don't protect him, they can't stop him from leaving.  

 

Thanks for the clarification. I didn't know about the protected element.

[Steptide]

I can't even imagine if prater continues to kick like he did last night, and after 4 weeks, bass comes back and starts missing fg's. This place will go crazy 

[muppy]

1 hour ago, notpolian said:

I feel much more calm when Prater is kicking than when Bass is fwiw.  Sign him to the 53 and let Bass stay on IR.

to be fair though would this take disappear the first time Prater misses a kick?

 

I don't have the confidence in Bass I would hope to have in my kicker. I mean no one is perfect but inconsistency in that field is a horrible look

 

I'm torn. I think the Bills will decide when the time is appropo and I HOPE it is the next decision for the team

 

Peter being stolen off the practice squad? aww hell naww

 

that would be Bad.

Just now, Steptide said:

I can't even imagine if prater continues to kick like he did last night, and after 4 weeks, bass comes back and starts missing fg's. This place will go crazy 

it would be epic meltdown mode 100% and rightfully so IMO

 

The stakes are just too high in the window we have with #17 as our QB

[PromoTheRobot]

Just keep in mind Prater doesn't have the leg to go past 55 yards.

49 minutes ago, SoonerBillsFan said:

Bass has to go and McDermott has to wake up to this fact

 

Rule #1: Don't take everything coaches and GMs say to the press literally.

Edited Monday at 10:16 PM by PromoTheRobot

[T master]

1 hour ago, Warriorspikes51 said:

I would hope Prater is signed to the 53 today?

 

If not, desperate teams could look to poach him from the PS

So, how do we handle Bass?   Keep him on IR all season?   Keep 2 Kickers on the 53?  

Waive Bass and hope he goes unclaimed then add him to the PS?  (Not sure if that's possible / vested veteran) 

They may have to . I heard them saying that you can only bring a player up from the practice squad 3 times and then the team has to sign them to the active roster . If that be true Bass is out for 4 games and they have to bring him up they may just let Bass go to IR and help completely .

 

If it aint broke don't fix it and I don't think it's like they are losing anything at all because Prater is one of those top tier kickers and very consistent !! 

 

Make it so Sir Beane .

[chongli]

1 hour ago, ChevyVanMiller said:

Keep in mind that the Bills would have the opportunity to put him on the 53 if another team put in a claim on him. They still have 2 more PS elevations to use on him, so no real need to make that decision until after game 3.

 

1 hour ago, Warriorspikes51 said:

I would hope Prater is signed to the 53 today?

 

If not, desperate teams could look to poach him from the PS

So, how do we handle Bass?   Keep him on IR all season?   Keep 2 Kickers on the 53?  

Waive Bass and hope he goes unclaimed then add him to the PS?  (Not sure if that's possible / vested veteran) 

 

If Bass is cut, he does not go through waivers as he is a vested veteran (completed more than four seasons). He can sign with any team, or none at all.

[BillsFanForever19]

37 minutes ago, Ethan in Cleveland said:

That is not how PS works.

 

Each week the Bills have to designate him protected or not. That apparently happens on Tuesday, though I don't know if they actually announce who the protected players are.  There is a max for four players per week and it has nothing to do with whether they were elevated or not. 

If they do not designate them as protected, teams don't put a claim in on him. They must sign him to their active 53.  If Bills don't protect him, they can't stop him from leaving.  

 

 

1.) Considering we have no Kicker on our 53 man roster and the plan is clearly to put him on the 53 after Week 1 (as to do it before Week 1 would guarantee his salary for the full year), i'd be shocked if he wasn't protected.

 

2.) We can't stop him from leaving, but I don't see it written anywhere that an unprotected player has no say in the matter. Obviously, if a team is paying active roster money and the team he's on is only offering Practice Squad money - they're going to go. But I see nothing saying that they have no choice but to sign the other team's contract over the team they're on, if they're offering the same. And why would Prater leave to go to another team when the Bills will also be offering an active roster contract this week?

[SirAndrew]

1 hour ago, Buffalo716 said:

I was telling all my friends when we signed prater he might Wally pip Bass 

 

I think hes definitely a better kicker.. especially from 50 in 

 

The difference is he probably isn't hitting from longer than 55 now

 

When you get to January February and the winds are swirling.. if you need the chance to hit a 58 yarder he might not be able to do that anymore 

 

Tyler bass can hit that 

 

So I'd stick with the hot hand for now but if he can't hit from 58 in Winter wind we probably have to go back to Bass 

 

And I'm pretty sure they said in the One direction his longest and warm-ups was 54 and it wasn't exactly windy

I’ve had the same thought, but is the potential of a 58 yard field goal more important than consistency? We could lose a playoff game due to Prater not having the strength of Bass, but Bass could cost us when he starts getting weird with extra points. 

[The Jokeman]

1 hour ago, ChevyVanMiller said:

Keep in mind that the Bills would have the opportunity to put him on the 53 if another team put in a claim on him. They still have 2 more PS elevations to use on him, so no real need to make that decision until after game 3.

Unless they needed to call up another 2 players from the PS. Yet I tend to agree wait on the decision is ultimately the best plan.

[balln]

52 minutes ago, Mr. WEO said:

Anyone catch him hugging the smelling salts before the kick

lol

Yea. Like a true addict. Love it

[Buffalo716]

9 minutes ago, SirAndrew said:

I’ve had the same thought, but is the potential of a 58 yard field goal more important than consistency? We could lose a playoff game due to Prater not having the strength of Bass, but Bass could cost us when he starts getting weird with extra points. 

That's something that the coaches will have to weigh 

 

But if there's not much time left in a game.. and you got no timeouts and you're going quick down the field you might just be able to get to the 38 or 40.. so it might be 55 to 59 occasionally 

 

If you can adjust your offense to where you're only trotting out the kicker at 50 and below... And you might be going for it on 4th and ones or 4th and twos from the 40 

 

That can potentially work 

 

Again the only drawback is if you have to trot out your kicker from 57 for the win... We might have to be throwing a hail Mary at that point which Tyler Bass from 57 is still much higher possibility than a hail Mary 

 

Also maybe he gets some strength back in his leg and maybe in a week or two he can hit from 57

Edited Monday at 10:21 PM by Buffalo716

[TBBills Fan]

If Bass is out four games, they are gonna have to sign him to the active roster.  I'm guessing they are waiting til this week because of the vet guaranteed money thing. 

 

But after yesterday he deserves a raise

[ColoradoBills]

37 minutes ago, BillsFanForever19 said:

 

1.) Considering we have no Kicker on our 53 man roster and the plan is clearly to put him on the 53 after Week 1 (as to do it before Week 1 would guarantee his salary for the full year), i'd be shocked if he wasn't protected.

 

2.) We can't stop him from leaving, but I don't see it written anywhere that an unprotected player has no say in the matter. Obviously, if a team is paying active roster money and the team he's on is only offering Practice Squad money - they're going to go. But I see nothing saying that they have no choice but to sign the other team's contract over the team they're on, if they're offering the same. And why would Prater leave to go to another team when the Bills will also be offering an active roster contract this week?

 

Correct.  All PS players are essentially free agents.  They don't have to sign with anyone.

Protected players cannot be poached for that week only.

Edited Monday at 10:46 PM by ColoradoBills

[Matt_In_NH]

They said on the radio that Prater has a better percentage from 30-39, 40-49 and 50-59 than Bass over the last few years.  After watching how confident and smooth Prater is I am good letting Bass stay on IR until something changes.

Edited Monday at 10:50 PM by Matt_In_NH

[Ethan in Cleveland]

57 minutes ago, BillsFanForever19 said:

 

1.) Considering we have no Kicker on our 53 man roster and the plan is clearly to put him on the 53 after Week 1 (as to do it before Week 1 would guarantee his salary for the full year), i'd be shocked if he wasn't protected.

 

2.) We can't stop him from leaving, but I don't see it written anywhere that an unprotected player has no say in the matter. Obviously, if a team is paying active roster money and the team he's on is only offering Practice Squad money - they're going to go. But I see nothing saying that they have no choice but to sign the other team's contract over the team they're on, if they're offering the same. And why would Prater leave to go to another team when the Bills will also be offering an active roster contract this week?

Of course the player can not sign with another team but the money is much higher and they probably want to play. There may be some retirement/vesting issues too with being in the active 53 for a certain number of games.

As for putting him on the 53 now, maybe they get him to agree to stay on the PS so it opens up another spot for the 53 for a couple more weeks.  Probably saves them a little cap space too. 

But as you said it makes the most sense to sign him this week to the 53.

[MJS]

There's no reason to. Keep calling him up until you need to add him. It's like a free roster spot for a couple more weeks. There could be injuries between now and then that affect the roster. And if someone tries to claim him, you can just add him to the 53 at that time. There's no down side to keeping him on the practice squad.

[letsgoteam]

Even if another team tries to sign him off the PS, he doesn't have to go. And why would he go?