Sean McDermott provides clarity on Bills' future plans for injured kicker Tyler Bass

Matt Prater has been showered with love after nailing a game-winning 32-yard field goal to win the Buffalo Bills’ Week 1 matchup over the Baltimore Ravens on Sunday.

And rightfully so. Prater caught a red-eye flight mid-week before joining the team for their final two practices of the week and proceeding to knock through one of the most memorable game-winners in the Bills’ franchise history.

So what does that mean for fellow Bills kicker Tyler Bass?

Matt Prater and Josh Allen — Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen chats with Matt Prater who won the game with his field goal attempt. Prater received a Sunday Night football after the game at Highmark Stadium in Orchard Park on Sept. 7, 2025. | Tina MacIntyre-Yee/Democrat and Chronicle / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Bass was placed on injured reserve to begin the season, which will require him to miss the first four games of the season. When asked what the plan is for Bass upon his return, head coach Sean McDermott reaffirmed that Bass is the team’s starting kicker as soon as he is healthy enough to return.

“Tyler’s our guy,” said McDermott. “Tyler is one of our guys that we’ve had around here for several years, and he’s done well. And we’re going to help him get through this injury piece. And that’s the medical staff’s job as well as his job.”

McDermott added, “So, for the foreseeable future, Prater is the guy. And, I thought he thought he did some good things. Obviously, the big kick at the end of the game there.”

But the Bills head coach reiterated that once Bass is past the groin and hip injuries which forced him out prior to Week 1, he will be back in the team’s starting lineup.

Buffalo Bills place kicker Tyler Bass looks over towards a teammate after leaving the field at the Buffalo Bills training camp at St. John Fisher University in Pittsford on July 24, 2025. | Tina MacIntyre-Yee/Democrat and Chronicle / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

“We don’t forget him,” said McDermott. “And it’s important that we keep him going here and heading in the right direction.”

Bass sustained a pelvic-area injury during training camp, which was later deemed a groin injury late in the preseason, when a hip injury was also added to the list. He missed the Bills’ first two preseason games, but returned in the exhibition finale against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. He was then held out of practice before being placed on IR leading into the game against the Ravens.

Bass began last season a bit rocky but settled in and became much more reliable as the season wore on before finishing the year with a field goal percentage of 82.8%, which equaled his mark from the season before. With the excitement surrounding Prater’s big kick on Sunday, some Bills fans may be calling for the team to keep him in place even after Bass returns. But it appears as if the team is ready to reinsert its former sixth-round pick back into the lineup when he’s ready.

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