Chicago Bears GM Ryan Pace is looking anywhere and everywhere for an answer to the Bears’ kicker woes, from free agency to the Alliance of American Football to the upcoming NFL draft.
On Wednesday, the Bears hosted three kickers for a tryout. But after those tryouts, which included NFL veteran Caleb Sturgis and AAF kickers Younghoe Koo & Nick Rose, Brad Biggs of the Chicago Tribune says the Bears aren’t planning on signing a kicker from that group.
The Bears currently have two kickers under contract in Chris Blewitt and Redford Jones, who both lack NFL experience. But Pace has made it clear that he’s open to adding more competition to a position that has snake-bitten the Bears since Robbie Gould was released.
“Right now we’re all just very open-minded,” Pace said last month. “We have two kickers on the roster now and we’re open to continue to add competition to the position. The keyword is competition at that spot and doing creative things to make them feel that pressure and that competition.”
The Bears met with all of the kickers in attendance at the NFL Scouting Combine, including LSU’s Cole Tracy and Utah’s Matt Gay, who are considered the best kickers in the draft.
Wherever the Bears do indeed find their starting kicker, be it free agency or the draft, the kicker competition is going to be a focal point of training camp and preseason.
