The competition for the Chicago Bears’ starting kicker just added another suitor.
The Bears on Friday announced the signing of AAF kicker Elliott Fry to a three-year deal.
Fry played four seasons at South Carolina, from 2013-2016, and most recently for the Orlando Apollos in the AAF, which recently suspended operations freeing up Fry to explore his options.
Fry converted all 14 field goals he attempted with the Apollos, with his long coming from 44 yards out.
During his time at South Carolina, Fry connected on 66-of-88 field goals (75 percent) and 161-of-162 extra points (99.4 percent.) He wound up leaving South Carolina as the program’s all-time leading scorer.
The Bears recently worked out two other AAF kickers this week in Younghoe Koo & Nick Rose. They also brought in veteran Caleb Sturgis for a tryout. But none of them dazzled the Bears enough to warrant a contract.
Bears GM Ryan Pace has made it clear that he’s open to adding more competition to a position that has snake-bitten the Bears since the release of Robbie Gould.
“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.”
Fry is the third kicker that the Bears have signed this offseason to compete for the starting job, joining Chris Blewitt and Redford Jones on the roster. The Bears might not be done either as they head into the NFL draft with some attractive kickers up for grabs.
