The good: Since Lions special teams coordinator Dave Fipp was hired in 2021, Detroit's special teams has been one of the top units year after year.

In Week 2, punter Jack Fox threw a 17-yard pass to Sione Vaki to convert a 4th & 12 from Detroit's 20-yard line. Since Fipp was hired, the team is 9-for-12 on fake punt attempts. Four of those conversions have come via rushes and the other five have come via passes from Fox, who is 4-for-5 (80.0 percent), and linebacker Jalen Reeves-Maybin, who is 1-for-1.

Fox was named First Team All-Pro and earned his second Pro Bowl nod, leading the NFL in both gross (51.0) and net (46.2) punting average. His net average set a new NFL single-season record.

First-year kicker Jake Bates was the Special Teams Player of the Month for November, converting 8-of-9 field goal attempts and all 17 extra points for 41 points. That included a game-winning field goal on the road in Houston. Bates started the season 19-for-19 on field goal tries and finished 26-for-29.

Veteran punt returner Kalif Raymond finished third in the NFL with a return average of 13.8 yards and also had a punt return touchdown against Tennessee. The Lions were one of six teams in the NFL with a punt return touchdown this season.

Opposing punt returners averaged just 6.4 yards per return against Detroit's coverage unit, the third lowest average in the NFL this season. The Lions were one of six teams this season not to allow a punt return of at least 20 yards.

One of the reasons Vaki was drafted in the fourth round was because Lions general manager Brad Holmes thought he was the best special teams player in the draft. The rookie ended up being a four-core special teamer for the Lions and lead the team in special teams tackles (8).

The bad: Opponents averaged 31.1 yards per kickoff return against the Lions, which was the fourth highest mark in the NFL behind only Arizona (31.4), Tennessee (32.1) and Indianapolis (34.8).

On the flip side, Detroit recorded only 15 kickoff returns all season as they opted to give their offense the ball at the 30-yard line rather than risk a return more often than not. Only Denver (13) and Minnesota (14) had fewer kickoff returns this season. Detroit did have the third highest average starting position after kickoffs at the 30.7 yard line this season, so the strategy did work, it just limited the big-play potential in the kickoff return game.

Maybe it's a little nitpicky given Bates attempted 67 extra points this season, but he missed three of them for a 95.5 percentage, which ranked 22nd and was just below the league average mark.

Key stat: In Week 17, Bates passed Jason Hanson for the most points scored in a single season in Lions history. His 142 points this season topped Hanson's marks from 2012 (134) and 1995 (132). He's only the third Lions player to score 100 points in their debut season, joining Eddie Murray (1980) and Doak Walker (1950).

Free agents: K Michael Badgley, CB Khalil Dorsey, CB Kindle Vildor, LB Anthony Pittman (restricted), RB Craig Reynolds (restricted)

Dorsey and Vildor turned out to be a really good gunner pairing with Dorsey considered by some to be one of the best gunners on punt team in the NFL this year before he was lost for the season to a broken leg in December.

Badgley's hamstring injury that landed him on IR in camp opened the door for Bates to be the place kicker to start the season.

Draft: With Bates, Fox and Raymond all under contract next season, and the Lions not really valuing kickoff returns that much, Detroit's special teams units are in good shape heading into next season.

There will obviously be turnover at the bottom of the roster and that will affect special teams, but the Lions aren't going into this year's draft cycle with obvious needs at the most essential special teams spots.

Quotable: "Yeah, it's awesome. Obviously, it does start with (Jack) Fox because if you don't have a guy who can pound the ball down the field, it's hard to net that 46.2 or whatever that was," Fipp said of Detroit's success as a punting unit in 2024.

"But yeah, obviously proud of all of those guys. It took a large contribution from everybody and then really for Fox, it starts with the snap and we had a rookie snapper come in who has been outstanding for us all year long, (Jalen Reeves-Maybin) Germ did a great job obviously, he does a lot for us at that position, he's a quarterback, putting us in and out of calls, punts, all of that kind of stuff so that's been huge.

"Then obviously all of those guys protecting, if you get one blocked or have a bad play, it just takes one of those to knock you out of having a stat like that at the end of the year. Then (Khalil) Dorsey on the outside and these gunners on the outside making plays down the field. So, it really does take everybody, that honor is really everybody's honor on that unit as far as I see it."