After missing the 2025 season due to a sports hernia injury, Bills kicker Tyler Bass is set to make a comeback for Buffalo this year. The rehabbing process has been a long one for the 29-year-old, but as the only kicker on the roster, general manager Brandon Beane seems confident Bass will be fully ready to go come Week 1.
Bass met with the media after Thursday's training camp practice and shared that same positive sentiment.
"The body's feeling good," Bass said. "Excited to get back, and the process has been, really just recovering, strengthening what we had worked on, and just taking it one day at a time."
Throughout his now six-year career, Bass has been a model of consistency with his right leg. The five healthy years to begin his NFL playing days featured an 84.5 field goal percentage, while making 96.4% of his extra points.
His last healthy campaign in 2024 would be considered a down year by the placekicker's own standards, looking to bounce back after knocking down 82.8% of his field goals and 92.2% of his point after attempts that year. Bass hasn't suited up since the 2025 preseason finale against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
"We were just still battling through it," Bass said. "I was still kind of hurting in that game, and it just never was going to get better. And we just decided, 'It's time to just get it fixed and go from there.'"
After undergoing surgery in 2025, Bass has rebuilt his self-confidence over the course of the offseason after going through so many unknowns with his injury.
"I wouldn't say it was a relief, but it was just; I finally had an answer to the problem," Bass said. "I knew it was [going to] be hard, the recovery. It was hard to get out of bed for a couple of weeks, but once I got through that, I showed myself and my body that I can do anything."
While on injured reserve throughout the regular and postseason, Bass had a different perspective while watching the team make a seventh consecutive playoff appearance.
"It was tough," Bass said of not being able to suit up. "A situation I've never been in, being injured. But [I'm] really grateful for how they handled it, and I'm grateful for [Matt] Prater coming in. He did a great job, and I learned a lot from just being around him. It was tough, you just want to get back out there, but we're just grateful to be here."
The process of getting back on the practice field took time, with Bass focusing on slowly ramping himself back up into his normal regiment.
As the Bills go through training camp, the Bills kicker is showing that his hard work over the course of the spring and early summer was successful.
"It probably took a few months before I started kicking, but we started with baby steps," Bass said. "20 yarders, 10 yarders, kind of worked from there. And then it wasn't really until like midway through OTAs, where I started really feeling like myself again."
