After months of lingering questions, the Chicago Bears finally locked up one of their key free agents to a long-term extension and put any doubts to bed when it came to a key playmaker. No, we’re not talking about wide receiver Allen Robinson.
Kicker Cairo Santos signed a five-year extension with the Bears, worth up to $16 million. The deal was first reported by the Chicago Tribune’s Brad Biggs.
After a record-setting season, #Bears have agreed to terms with K Cairo Santos on a $16M, 5-year contract with a max value of $17.5M.
Final 2 years of deal are voidable so it's really a $9M, 3-year deal with max value of $11M.
No more kicker carousel.
— Brad Biggs (@BradBiggs) March 12, 2021
Santos is signed for five seasons, but the last two years on his deal are voidable. This means the contract is basically a three-year deal worth $9 million and can go as high as $11 million, according to Biggs.
The veteran kicker, who was re-signed last season to replace an injured Eddy Pineiro, converted 93.8% of his field goal attempts and went 28-of-28 to end the season. He only missed one extra point attempt and two field goal attempts over the course of the season. After searching for kickers year over year, Santos’ extension should finally stabilize a position that has plagued the Bears since Robbie Gould was released in 2016.
As is this case with every Bears signing, Twitter had plenty of reactions to the Santos extension.
CAIRO💰
— cordarrelle patterson (@ceeflashpee84) March 12, 2021
#Bears lock up Santos. I think this is a smart move. https://t.co/WMMK0iBLir
— Aaron Leming (@AaronLemingNFL) March 12, 2021
Welp … we knew the group kumbaya on #BearsTwitter had to come to an end.
Who knew signing a kicker would do it? What a fickle fanbase this is. pic.twitter.com/DmryFGGonW
— 🅑🅔🅐🅡🅢🅖🅡🅛 (@BearsGrl80) March 12, 2021
Assuming Cairo Santos will be Cody Parkey because of the contract he signed is….well laughable. #Bears
— The Tape Never Lies Network (@TTNLNetwork) March 12, 2021
The welp… heard around the world yesterday was actually about the Cairo Santos deal. 😅😅😅😅#BearsNation
— Bears Nation (@BearsNationCHI) March 12, 2021
Cairo Santos is the new Robbie Gould https://t.co/2YWRAO848B
— Mark Bergin (@mdbergin) March 12, 2021
WELCOME BACK GOAT KICKER CAIRO SANTOS AKA CARLOS SANTOS
— george (@thegeorgeyou) March 12, 2021
Wait the Bears did what? Did they really sign a kicker whose been cut five times since 2018 playing for four teams to a $5 million+ contract?
— Jason_OTC (@Jason_OTC) March 12, 2021
#Bears fans, this is exactly why I’m worried:
The voidable years on Santos’ deal will almost assuredly bring his 2021 cap hit down, but you can’t just take the money out of the deal. It’s a $5.33AAY contract, so hopefully he keeps kicking the way he did last year! https://t.co/rgEGxpqYdD
— Robert Schmitz (@robertkschmitz) March 12, 2021
Bears are Back https://t.co/EBM7MbZoez
— Big Cat (@BarstoolBigCat) March 12, 2021
Cairo Santos was fantastic this season, and he absolutely deserves the extension.
Great job by the #Bears to lock up their kicker!
— Adam R. Rosen (@arrosen76) March 12, 2021
Not learning from your past mistakes, the Pace special
Just laughable
— Brad Spielberger (@PFF_Brad) March 12, 2021
Congratulations? https://t.co/lJ9GXL5uaQ
— Herb Lawrence (@Ecnerwal23) March 12, 2021
Let’s goooooo! https://t.co/YH4LZUH87W
— Aaron 🐻⬇️ (@rolltide_25) March 12, 2021
just why https://t.co/iJPDbxqD2s
— sam (@samrobb39) March 12, 2021
#Bears lock in their kicker long term. Value is about what expected per year but length is surprising. I'd assume a good amount of $ is getting kicked down the road with a large signing bonus https://t.co/Fz8yrVDU6A
— Andrew Freeman (@AjFreeman25) March 12, 2021
But the bears can't pay @AllenRobinson https://t.co/lmZ0cGYpqT
— Lucky louch (@Brandon69934586) March 12, 2021
Definitely was an important piece to bring back after how great he was last year. Glad to see the Bears get this done before he hit the open market #Bears #NFLFreeAgency https://t.co/4oVLWjYXou
— Storm Hauser (@HauserStorm) March 12, 2021
You can’t spell “Cairo Santos” without “Ciara.” It’s all there in front of you.
— Tom Fornelli (@TomFornelli) March 12, 2021
According to the record books Cairo Santos the best kicker in Bears history. So…
— Mike Brez (@mikebrez5) March 12, 2021
