Chicago Bears do not sign any AAF kickers after workout

Despite working out three kickers, the Chicago Bears did not sign any of them.

The Chicago Bears have two kickers under contract. Those kickers are Chris Blewitt and Redford Jones.

In Ryan Pace’s ongoing quest to finally solve the kicker dilemma that has faced the Bears for the last several years, the Bears worked out three more kickers. They worked out Nick Rose and Younghoe Koo from the AAF and Caleb Sturgis who had previously kicked for the Miami Dolphins, Philadelphia Eagles and LA Chargers.

After the workouts, it appears that none of the three impressed the Bears enough.

Sturgis seems like he fits in the mold of “just another guy.” He’s the kicker you sign in midseason when your kicker gets hurt, not the kicker you rely on at the start of the season. Passing on him isn’t too surprising.

Koo had a fantastic season in the AAF but Koo had an opportunity with the LA Chargers in 2017 and was rotten. He was 3 for 6 on field goals and only 1 for 4 on any kicks outside of 40 yards. Two of those kicks were game tying or game winning kicks as time expired and he missed them both.

Anyone who has shown any signs of the yips in the past doesn’t need to be anywhere near the Bears’ franchise after the Cody Parkey fiasco. Even if Koo has shown improvement, those missed field goals back in 2017 would be enough to look elsewhere.

That leaves Nick Rose who has a giant leg and was excellent in the AAF. Rose also had opportunities in 2017 with the Chargers and Washington Redskins. He wasn’t great in LA but was very good in Washington hitting 10 of 11 field goals including a 55-yarder. He also is the type of kicker that would ensure that the Bears would never have to worry about kick returns. He’s a guaranteed touchback every time.

Regardless of what Rose can do, his workout was not up to Matt Nagy and Pace’s standards and the Bears quest to find a new kicker continues.

The Bears will next most likely look at Cole Tracy and Matt Gay who are arguably the two best kickers in this draft class. Could the Bears use a seventh round pick on one of these players or make a hard push for one of them as a UDFA if they go undrafted? That has to be a definite possibility.

If the Bears don’t sign any veteran kicker, and unless something happens with Robbie Gould that certainly doesn’t seem to be the case, the question will be whether the Bears plan to stick with Blewitt and Jones entering OTAs or if they’ll add a third kicker to the 90-man roster and take a look at three of them after the draft.