After reaching the NFC Championship Game last year, the Detroit Lions want to get over the proverbial hump this year. There are some margins they’ve efforted to to just that this offseason.

One addition which could fly under the radar was on special teams. Kicker Jake Bates was signed after a good season with the Michigan Panthers in the UFL, and will be looking to beat out Michael Badgley in training camp.

Bates of course kicked in Ford Field for the Panthers, so he’s got some sheer experience in the building he might be kicking in again.

Speaking on “The Rich Eisen Show,” SportsGrid’s Warren Sharp pointed out Detroit’s most important advantage could be their schedule.

“The Detroit Lions this season play 14 out of 17 games in domes. This team has big home-road splits. They also have big dome-outdoor splits….. think their first seven games are in domes. Obviously, (they’re) going to play in Green Bay. They’re going to play in Chicago. Forget about those two. Their only true road game that they don’t have to otherwise play that’s going to be outdoors is Week 17 in San Francisco. It’s unlikely that we’re going to have a weather situation or a wind situation (there). It could get windy in San Francisco, but it’s not really like playing in areas like up in New England or in New York. So I think the Lions did some things this (offseason) that’s going to really help them in 2024.”

Sharp went further to point to the difference Bates could make.

Warren Sharp points to Jake Bates as potential x-factor for Lions

The Lions have struggled to find an answer at kicker, and it’s possible they just don’t value the position all that much. But lacking trust in a kicker from the longest range is tough, if Dan Campbell needs another reason to go for it a lot on fourth down.

Having Bates’ could change things. Detroit turned down multiple long field goals in the regular season. More Critically, they passed on longer field goals against San Francisco in the second half of the NFC Championship, which could have changed the game.

Sharp thinks Bates can shift that dynamic.

“One or two things go their way, and this is a team that could be the NFC representative in the Super Bowl. One of those things is kickers and we know that over the last four years, no team has made fewer field goals than the Lions. We know that Dan Campbell doesn’t like to attempt field goals. He goes for it on fourth-down. They ranked 25th in conversion rate of field goals, especially longer field goals. We’ve seen them sometimes bang a couple of long ones several years ago, but this team has really struggled kicking from distance and now they go out and they get Jake Bates, who I think is obviously a weapon in the kicking game. He went 17-22 in the (UFL) regular season and he was 14-16 on attempts under 50 yards, but 7-12 from 50 plus (yards). The Lions have made only 10 field goals in the last four years of 50 plus yards. In just one season, (Bates) made seven of them. I think that’s going to help them a lot this upcoming season.”

Obviously Bates must win a roster spot, and ideally he will get a legit shot to beat out. In the end, the stronger-legged kicker (Bates) could become the biggest reason the Lions have a more successful ending this season.