The Los Angeles Chargers are a tragically terrible team when it comes to kicking. But did the team find their guy to guide the team to a playoff push in Mike Badgley?
With a last name like “BADgley”, you’d expect poor execution from the seventh kicker in 23 weeks for the Los Angeles Chargers. But after going 5-of-5 on extra points and making his only field goal attempt in a Week 6 win over the Cleveland Browns, Mike Badgley was pretty darn good.
One game is a small sample size, but Badgley’s NFL experience does trace back to the preseason, in which he hit all five of his field goals and five extra points. Showing accuracy and decent leg strength with the Indianapolis Colts, he likely only didn’t get the job because the other guy was Adam Vinatieri.
For his entire (albeit short) NFL career, including preseason, Badgley has made 16-straight kicks. That’s good enough for me.
The Chargers have not made all of their kicks in a game since Travis Coons did so in Week 14 of the 2017 season, a stat that’s absolutely stunning. With Badgley, the team gets a guy who has shown the ability to be a high-percentage NFL kicker on two different teams.
Caleb Sturgis, the team’s “starting” kicker, has missed seven kicks this year already. Extrapolate that across an entire year, and Sturgis would be on pace to miss 20 or more total attempts this year on field goals and extra points. That’s a problem.
Head coach Anthony Lynn believes in Sturgis for good reason, but has been let down by his free agent acquisition too many times already.
Badgley will not outright win the starting job after one game, but if he does well in practice and makes his kicks throughout the Chargers’ clash with the Tennessee Titans in Week 7, he’s going to be the team’s kicker for the rest of the season barring injury.