The Buffalo Bills thought they were set at kicker heading into last season. Then, their incumbent kicker suffered an injury over the summer. The Bills signed a veteran kicker on a whim, and he was absolutely fantastic throughout the season, kicking a game-winner in his first appearance with the club before nailing a game-tying field goal to send the AFC Divisional Game between Buffalo and the Denver Broncos to overtime.
Should the Bills re-sign that veteran? Should they go back to the younger kicker
who held down that position for each of the previous five seasons? And what will the Bills do at punter?
In today’s look at the state of the Bills roster, we discuss the specialists.
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Tyler Bass
Contract Status for 2026: Signed; first year of two-year, renegotiated contract ($3.05 million cap hit; $2.54 million dead cap if released)
Age: 29 (30 on 2/14/2027)
Playing Time: NA
Key Statistics: NA
Bass missed the entire season after having core muscle surgery, and while president of football operations/general manager Brandon Beane has said publicly that Bass is the Bills’ kicker moving forward, we can’t expect him to say much else. There will be competition this summer between Bass and Maddux Trujillo, and the Bills could save a very small amount of money by releasing Bass.
I don’t think Bass’ roster spot is set in stone, but especially now that he’s agreed to a renegotiated contract to lower his 2026 cap number by nearly $2 million, it would take a very strong showing from another player to unseat him.
Matt Prater
Contract Status for 2026: Unsigned; UFA
Age: 41 (42 on 8/10/2026)
Playing Time: 15 games, 154 special teams snaps (35.48% of team total)
Key Statistics: 18/20 FG (90%), 46/49 PAT (93.9%), long FGM 52 yards
Prater came in this past season and was absolutely fantastic. A quad injury limited him late in the season, but there was never a kick that he attempted throughout the year where I felt like he was going to miss. I can’t say that was the case over the last few seasons watching Bass.
Prater brought veteran calm and stability to the position, and while they should look for a younger option here, I wouldn’t rule out bringing him back under the right circumstances.
Reid Ferguson
Contract Status for 2026: Signed; second year of four-year, $6.5 million contract ($1,602,500 cap hit; $832,500 dead-cap number)
Age: 31 (32 on 3/24/2026)
Playing Time: 17 games, 129 special teams snaps (29.03% of team total)
Key Statistics: NA
For the first time in his NFL career, Ferguson did not register at least one tackle. As a long snapper, though, that’s not what’s most important about his job. What is important is that he continues to put snaps directly into the hands of the punter, whether those snaps come on punts, on field goals, or on extra point attempts.
Ferguson is great at his job, he’s the longest-tenured Bill, and he’s an asset to the locker room. He’s staying.
Mitch Wishnowsky
Contract Status for 2026: Signed one-year deal; terms are undisclosed at this time
Age: 34 (35 on 3/2/2027)
Playing Time: 13 games, 93 special teams snaps (21.43% of team total)
Key Statistics: 38 punts, 45.3 yards per punt, 73 punt return yards allowed, 41.8 net yards per punt, 3 punts for touchback (7.9%), 18 punts downed inside the 20-yard line (47.4%), long punt of 62 yards, 1 tackle
Wishnowsky was Buffalo’s third punter, and he was also clearly their best punter. He signed with the Bills after their second punter, Bill Burr Cameron Johnston, suffered a knee injury. Wishnowsky landed nearly half of his punts inside the 20-yard line, and he also netted nearly 42 yards per punt.
In the postseason, Wishnowsky booted three punts without a return. For an injury replacement, he was outstanding. The team clearly agreed, hence the decision to re-sign him.
Maddux Trujillo
Contract Status for 2026: Signed reserve/future contract on 1/6/2026
Age: 22 (23 on 4/12/2026)
Playing Time w/Buffalo: NA
Key Statistics: NA
Trujillo was an undrafted free-agent signing of the Indianapolis Colts this past season, and while he competed for the starting kicker job with the Colts, he didn’t attempt a field goal in preseason action. He was 4/4 on PATs before he was waived. As a senior at Temple in 2024, he was perfect on PATs (21/21), but he made just 16-of-22 field goals.
Trujillo will have the chance to compete with Tyler Bass this summer, but unless he is outstanding, he has a long way to go to prove that he can be trusted as the top kicker on the team.
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Final Thoughts
Reid Ferguson is the surest bet of the bunch here, as he’s the longest-tenured person on the roster set to play under his third head coach. Buffalo has two kickers under contract in Trujillo and Bass, and they could easily be the two players Buffalo has compete for the job throughout the summer. I assume that Bass will be the guy for two reasons: first, he’s being paid like he’s the guy. Second, the general manager said he’s going to be the guy. To be the man, someone is going to have to beat the man, and as of right now, we don’t know what Trujillo can do, so I’m not ready to crown him just yet.
The Bills could likely re-sign Prater if they wanted to roll the dice on a 42-year old kicker’s body not breaking down late in the season, but after needing to cycle through Michael Badgley and a host of other tryout players last season when Prater was injured, it’s probably not advisable to trust Prater’s legs staying good at this stage of his career.
I think Buffalo would be best served letting Trujillo and Bass battle it out this summer, and I ultimately expect that Bass will remain the team’s kicker. If there’s a young player the Bills like who can be had after the draft, then Buffalo might want to look at adding a third player; however, Bass and Trujillo are your likely combatants in a kicking competition this season.
As for the punter gig, I think re-signing Wishnowsky was the right move, as he was very good all season both as a punter and as a holder. He even did a nice job on kickoffs after Prater returned from injury. Again, there’s no need to overthink this. The Bills should allow the kicker competition to play out this summer, and if Wishnowsky stumbles, they can always sign another punter. Buffalo would be fine starting next season with the players they have.
